This study examines the potential benefits of using the native language of learners in a principled way by reviewing research that represents the dominant view of using only the second or target language (L2) against a growing body of literature that argues for principled L1 use. The development of the direct and monolingual method and its key aspects are discussed, and bilingual methods and arguments for implementing the first language (L1) in a foreign language classroom are reviewed and evaluated. An attitudinal case study investigating learners' attitudes towards L1 use in the classroom showed that students prefer a mixture of L1 and L2, and that the principled use of the L1 has positive effects on the learner. / by Isabel Osswald. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2010. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2010. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

published_or_final_version / Public Administration / Master / Master of Social Sciences

This article seeks to understand what South African universities are doing by making use of language as a tool or as an enabling voice towards Africanisation and transformation with particular reference to Rhodes University, which serves as a case study. Although many universities now have language policies in place and are part of an enabling policy environment, when it comes to using language as part of transformation and asserting an African voice, there are still policy implementation challenges. It is argued in this article that implementation of policy, including university language policies, is now a key indicator for two levels of transformation; namely the more superficially visible or visual representation transformation, as well as deeper curriculum transformation through appropriate language usage. It is the latter form of transformation that largely eludes the contemporary South African university, whether these are historically black universities (HBUs) or historically white universities (HWUs). With the exception of a few best practices that are highlighted in this article, it is argued that transformation of the curriculum remains a long-term process, in the same way that language policy implementation is an ongoing process and requires commitment at all levels of university managerial and academic culture. The African voice in higher education remains an elusive one; though it is gaining ground, as evidenced by the recent removal of the Cecil John Rhodes Statue at the University of Cape Town. Furthermore, there is evidence of selected ongoing curriculum and pedagogic transformation, as presented in this article.

The critical period hypothesis for second language learning, which states that young children learn additional languages better than adults, lacks unambiguous empirical support as well as a coherent theoretical model. An experimental study was conducted which analyzed child-adult differences in difficulty of acquisition and long-term retention for rules of syntax and words in Japanese, a language unfamiliar to the subjects. The results of this study found no advantage for children over adults either in acquisition or long-term memory. However, relative to the difficulty of acquisition, the children had lower forgetting rates for words than for rules when both materials were learned completely. In the lexical study, the children's performance at retention was closer to the adults' than at acquisition, whereas in the syntax study, the opposite was the case. These results confirm the existence of developmental differences in the forgetting rates of different materials. Such results imply that, if there is an advantage for learning language at an early age, it might be localized in lexical retention.

在過去的兩個世紀， 一系列廣泛的研究已經著眼於中國兒童以中文為母語和英文為二語的閱讀和寫字方面的探索。 研究發現母語為中文的兒童在認讀中文和英文詞語過程中，一些基本的認知，元認知，以及語言方面的能力和技巧對他們的中文和英文閱讀有相似且不同的作用。同閱讀英文相比，閱讀中文似乎運用不同的認知，語言和正字法能力。然而，極少有研究從以字母語言為母語的兒童學習中文二語的角度探索這個中文閱讀。现在还不明确譬如這些兒童是否像以中文為母語的兒童一樣在閱讀中文的過程中經歷相似的認知和語言加工。問題在于和中文為母語兒童相比，以字母語言為母語的兒童在學習閱讀中文方面有哪些的相似和不同處。這項研究關注這些研究問題，測試一群在香港環境中學習中文為二語的兒童。 / 在香港眾多國際學校中，大多數學校每天有一節40分鐘的中文課。這些學校將中文作為一門外語學習。少數學校採用英中文雙語課程，這些學校的學生在校有至少40的中文學習時間。這項研究一部分採樣來自一所採用英中雙語課程的學校（共102名8-9歲兒童，62名母语为中文的儿童，40名母语为非中文的儿童），另一部分數據採樣來自兩所以中文為外語（一天一节40分钟中文课）和英文为主要语言的學校(共88名8-9歲兒童，47名母语为中文的儿童，41名母语为非中文的儿童)。大多數以中文為二語的儿童在英文为母语的环境中成长，这些儿童中少数以其他字母语言为母语，例如荷兰语，德语，西班牙语或是韩语。 / 在这项研究对儿童语言背景调查中，所有兒童的家長們對其子女的英文和中文語言能力，語言環境和學習態度的評估為這項研究提供了詳盡的兒童語言背景資料。我們对这些儿童进行 了一系列中文及英文閱讀相關的任務测试。在數據分析時，我們以這些兒童母親匯報的第一語言為標准，將這些兒童分為中文為母語和中文為非母語的兩組。 / 因為課程設置不同對語言習得的影響，我分開處理分析兩類採樣學校的數據。在英文閱讀相關的任務上，兩類學校的中文母語兒童和非中文母語兒童表現相當。但是無論是雙語學校還是英文學校中的中文母語兒童都在中文閱讀相關任務上較非母語兒童表現出顯著的優勢。兩類學校的兩組兒童在視覺能力上表現相同，但是在中文正字法相關的視覺能力上，中文母語兒童優於非母語兒童。結構方差分析表示中文母語兒童在認讀中文字詞中大量運用正字法相關的視覺能力和拼音知識，而非母語兒童依賴語音意識能力和視覺能力認讀中文字詞。 / 理論上，這項研究肯定了閱讀中文運用較閱讀英文不同的認知和語言能力。這項研究對中文二語教學有深刻的影響。非中文母語特別是以字母語言為母語的兒童在學習中文時會依賴其母語的經驗。今后的研究需要更進一步的研究這個特殊群體。 / For the last two decades, an extensive line of research has focused on how Chinese children learn to read and write Chinese as a first language and English as a second language. Researchers identified a number of basic cognitive, metalinguistic and linguistic skills making contributions to the reading of Chinese and English words by native Chinese-speaking children, with some differences between the two languages. It appears that learning to read Chinese taps different cognitive, linguistic and orthographic skills than learning to read English. / Only very limited research has so far addressed the phenomenon from the angle of children with a non-Chinese language background, i.e. those learning alphabetic languages. It is not known, for example, if children learning Chinese as a second language might also go through similar cognitive and linguistic processes in learning to read Chinese as native Chinese-speaking children. The question is, how similar or dissimilar learning to read Chinese is for children with an alphabetic language background compared to native-speaking Chinese children. This research project addresses these questions by examining a group of children learning Chinese as a second language in a Hong Kong context. / A majority of Hong Kong international schools offer Chinese classes of at least 40 minutes each day, with Chinese being taught as a foreign language. A minority offers an English-Chinese bilingual curriculum, with at least 40% of all teaching done in Chinese. For this research, 102 8-9 year olds (62 native and 40 non-native Chinese-speaking children) from a bilingual school were assessed, and 88 8-9 year olds (47 native and 41 non-native Chinese-speaking children) from two schools teaching Chinese as a foreign language, i.e. one lesson each day. Most of the non-native Chinese-speaking children grew up with English as their first language (L1). Other children speak other alphabetic language such as Dutch, German, Spanish, or Korean as their L1. / For this research, parental evaluations of the children’s English and Chinese language proficiency, exposure and learning attitudes were collected to obtain data on the children’s language background. The children were tested on a range of cognitive, language, metalinguistic and literacy skills in both Chinese and English. In analyzing the data, the children were separated into a native and a non-native Chinese-speaking group based on the reported first language of each child’s mother. / Data from the two types of schools were analyzed separately. In both types of schools, native Chinese-speaking children performed similarly to non-native Chinese-speaking children on English language related tasks, but outperformed them in Chinese language related tasks. However, the two groups were similar in pure visual skill tasks, although native Chinese-speaking children outperformed the non-native children on visual-orthographic skills. Regression analyses showed that native Chinese-speaking children rely heavily on visual-orthographic skills and on their knowledge of Pinyin in Chinese word reading, while children speaking alphabetic languages rely on phonological awareness skills and pure visual skills in learning to read Chinese. / This research has confirmed the theory that learning to read Chinese exercises a somewhat different set of cognitive and linguistic skills than learning to read English. This research has strong implications for teaching Chinese as a second language. Children with an alphabetic language background rely on their first language experience in learning to read Chinese. Further research is needed to study this group of children. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Zhou, Yanling. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2012. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 113-122). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract also in Chinese. / Abstract --- p.iii / 摘要 --- p.v / Acknowledgements --- p.vii / Table of Contents --- p.viii / List of Tables --- p.xi / Chapter Chapter 1. --- Introduction --- p.1 / What is reading? --- p.2 / Second language reading and biliteracy development --- p.4 / Chinese and English language and orthography --- p.6 / Chapter Chapter 2 --- Literature review --- p.9 / L1 reading acquisition --- p.9 / Oral language development in L1 English and Chinese reading development --- p.9 / Morphological awareness in L1 English and Chinese literacy development --- p.12 / Phonological processing skills in L1 literacy acquisition --- p.14 / Phonological awareness skills in L1 word reading --- p.15 / Phonological awareness and Pinyin knowledge for L1 Chinese word reading --- p.18 / RAN in L1 reading development --- p.20 / Phonological working memory --- p.20 / Working memory skills in literacy learning --- p.21 / Visual and visual-orthographic skills in literacy acquisition --- p.25 / L2 reading acquisition --- p.30 / Oral language in L2 reading development --- p.31 / Morphological awareness skills in L1 Chinese learning to read English as an L2 --- p.33 / Phonological awareness skills in L1 Chinese learning to read English as an L2 --- p.34 / Orthographic awareness skills in L1 Chinese learning to read English as L2 --- p.36 / Reading Chinese as L2 --- p.38 / Chapter Chapter 3 --- Methodology --- p.44 / Participants --- p.44 / Procedures --- p.47 / Measures --- p.48 / Raven’s non-verbal intelligence --- p.48 / Chinese Phonological awareness --- p.48 / English Phonological awareness --- p.49 / Chinese Pinyin Knowledge --- p.49 / Tone detection task --- p.49 / Chinese morphological awareness --- p.50 / English morphological awareness --- p.51 / Chinese Vocabulary knowledge --- p.51 / English Vocabulary knowledge --- p.52 / Chinese word reading --- p.52 / English word reading --- p.53 / Chinese word dictation --- p.53 / English real and pseudo-word dictation --- p.54 / Chinese delayed copy tasks --- p.54 / Speed of copying Chinese characters --- p.54 / Speed of visual processing --- p.55 / Visual spatial relations --- p.55 / Visual orthographic configuration --- p.55 / Visual orthographic memory --- p.56 / Chinese and English working memory tasks --- p.56 / Rapid number naming in Chinese and English --- p.57 / Chapter Chapter 4 --- Results --- p.58 / Results for the bilingual School --- p.58 / Group comparisons on Chinese and English reading related skills for the bilingual school --- p.59 / Chinese word reading in native and non-native Chinese-speaking children at the bilingual school --- p.65 / English word reading in native and non-native Chinese-speaking children at the bilingual school --- p.69 / Cross language transfer on English word reading for the bilingual school --- p.72 / Cross-language transfer on Chinese word reading for the bilingual school --- p.75 / Chapter Result For The Monolingual English-Speaking School --- p.77 / Group Comparison On Chinese And English Reading Related Skills For Children From The Monolingual English-Speaking Schools --- p.78 / Chinese Word Reading In Native And Non-Native Chinese-Speaking Children At The Monolingual English-Speaking Schools --- p.83 / English Word Reading In Native And Non-Native Chinese-Speaking Children At The Monolingual English-Speaking School --- p.87 / Cross Language Transfer On English Word Reading ForMonolingual English-Speaking Schools --- p.90 / Cross-Language Transfer On Chinese Word Reading For Monolingual English-Speaking Schools --- p.93 / Chapter Chapter5. --- Discussion --- p.95 / About Language Group Differences --- p.95 / Chinese Reading Related Skills On Chinese Word Reading For The Two Language Groups --- p.101 / English Reading Related Skills In Relation To English Word Reading For The Two Language Groups --- p.103 / Cross-Language Transfer Between Chinese And English --- p.104 / Vocabulary Development In Chinese --- p.104 / Chapter Chapter6. --- Conclusion --- p.109 / References --- p.113

This study investigates possible contributing factors to the development of Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) in undergraduate language learners. Moreover, the study tests the viability of a survey instrument which can help language programs describe the ICC of their students. ICC has been determined to be a valuable—if not central—component of the future of language teaching and learning (Aguilar, 2007) because of the focus the construct places on “appropriate and effective” interaction between the learner and interlocutors from the target culture. A total of 108 lower-division German language students were surveyed as part of this study. They represented a cross section of all lower-division German language courses offered at the University of Texas at Austin in the spring semester of 2010. The Assessment of Undergraduate Intercultural Competence was used to collect student responses. The survey, an extensive adaptation of Fantini’s Assessment of Intercultural Competence (2006) for the undergraduate language learning context, gathered demographic data, such as nationality, foreign travel experience and nature of a participant’s intercultural relationships. Students were also asked to rank the applicability to themselves of an array of personality traits. Finally, students responded to 54 questions which addressed the core domains of ICC: Knowledge, Attitude, Skills and Awareness. These items, as well as the personality traits were rated on a 7-point Likert-type scale. The data collected were analyzed by quantitative methods The findings of this analysis determined that there was no connection between students progressing through the language program and the development of ICC. Additionally, though, a number of other factors, including the presence of intercultural relationships and a student’s willingness to adjust to new ways of living, were found to contribute positively to one’s ICC. The results of the study suggest that language programs consider ways to incorporate these factors into curricula. The findings also provide benchmark data for future studies of language learner ICC in the context of the American undergraduate experience. / text

published_or_final_version / Language Studies / Master / Master of Arts

published_or_final_version / Language Studies / Master / Master of Arts

Several recent studies (e.g., Benson and Chik, 2010; Sockett, 2014) suggest that as a result of changes in technology and the concomitant emergence of a globalized culture, highly effective out-of-class, informal English acquisition is becoming more common. The present study compared high-level, well-motivated Central Brazilian classroom-trained learners (CTLs) with fully autonomous self-instructed learners (FASILs) of similar backgrounds. Using linguistic tests, a questionnaire and a structured interview, the study analysed group differences as well as individual differences in language proficiency, learner histories, behaviour, beliefs, and attitudes. The key research question asked whether there existed, in more than rare circumstances, FASILs who attained levels of proficiency at least as high as highly-motivated, well-trained CTLs? Furthermore, if the knowledge and skills of FASILs were, in some respects, superior to those of CTLs, what variables accounted for the advantage? FASILs significantly outperformed CTLs across a battery of linguistic tests measuring a range of knowledge and skills. Test results indicated that while CTLs tended to plateau at upper intermediate levels, FASILs generally improved through advanced levels, often achieving native-like levels of knowledge and use. The strongest contributing factor to proficiency was found to be self-determined motivation driven by a personalized relationship with English often marked by a transnational identity. The evidence suggests this type of motivation, significantly more associated with FASILs than CTLs, led users to engage deeply with the linguistic details of informal sources. The findings challenge dominant paradigms in several fields of SLA which prioritize expert regulation over independent discovery and controlled, collaborative environments over real-world contexts of use entered into for personal reasons. A hoped for consequence of this study is that SLA research and teaching practice will begin to recognize and promote rather than regulate or dismiss the unique learning arcs that more and more English learners experience in their everyday lives.

This paper seeks to understand the relationship between the intellectualisation of African languages and the facilitation of a research approach which will enhance this intellectualisation. The paper examines the legislative language policies and other documents published by government since 1994, which guide language use and practices in higher education, including the Catalytic Project on Concept Formation in indigenous African languages (one of the recommendations contained in the Report commissioned by the Minister of Higher Education for the Charter for Humanities and Social Sciences and the language clauses of the Green Paper for Post-Secondary School Education and Training). These policy documents are analysed against the backdrop of the research work of the newly initiated NRF SARChI Chair in the Intellectualisation of African Languages, Multilingualism and Education hosted by Rhodes University. The paper argues that while policy provides an enabling environment for the promotion and development of indigenous African languages and advocates for promotion of equity and equality, in actual fact, HEIs still grapple in implementing provisions of these policies. The paper further discusses the teaching, learning and research in the African Language Studies Section of the School of Languages at Rhodes University and how the Section adopted the provisions of the national policy and institutional policy on language in turning itself into a source of intellectual vitality in the teaching, learning and research of particularly isiXhosa. Six focus areas of research, linked to the NRF SARChI Chair, will be outlined in order to create a practical link between Policy, Implementation and the Intellectualisation of African Languages. / Ucwaningo lolu luhlose ukuqonda ubudlelwano obuphakathi kokusetshenziswa kwezilimi zesintu emazingeni aphakame kanye nokusetshenziswa kwendlela yocwaningo ezokwengeza amathuba okusetshenziswa kwezilimi lezi (Finlayson & Madiba 2002). Ucwaningo luhlaziya inqubomgomo yolimi esemthethweni neminye imibhalo eshicelelwe uhulumeni elawula ukusebenza nokusetshenziswa kwezilimi kwezemfundo ephakame kusuka ngonyaka wezi-1994, kanye ne-Catalytic Project on Concept Formation in indigenous African languages (esinye seziphakamiso esiqukethwe embikweni owethulwa ngungqonqoshe wezemfundo ephakeme nge-Charter of Humanities and Social Sciences (HSSC 2011) kanye nezinhlamvu zamazwi e-Green paper for Post-secondary School education and training (2012). Imibhalo yenqubomgomo ihlaziywa kubhekwe umsebenzi wocwaningo kasihlalo we- NRF SARChl ekusetshenzisweni kwezilimi zesintu emazingeni aphakeme nobuliminingi kanye nezemfundo e- Rhodes University. Ucwaningo lolu luphakamisa umbono othi noma inqubomgomo isipha amandla okukhuphula nokuthuthukisa izilimi zesintu kanye nokukhuthaza ukulingana nokungacwasi, eqinisweni izikhungo zemfundo ephakeme zihlangabezana nobunzima bokusebenzisa izihlinzeko zenqubomgomo. Ucwaningo lolu luzoxoxa futhi ngokufundisa nokufunda kanye nocwaningo emnyangweni wezifundo zezilimi zesintu esikoleni sezilimi e-Rhodes University kanye nokuthi umnyango lo wamukela njani izihlinzeko zenqubomgomo kazwelonke kanye nezesikhungo eziphathelane nokuguqulwa kwezilimi zibe umthombo wenhlakanipho ekufundiseni nasekufundeni kanye nocwaningo ngolimi lwesiXhosa. Imikhaka emqoka eyisithupha yocwaningo ehlobene nesihlalo se-NRF SARChl izovezwa ukuze kwakhiwe ubudlelwano obenzekayo phakathi kwenqubomgomo, ukusetshenziswa kwayo kanye nokusetshenziswa kwezilimi zesintu emazingeni aphakeme.