Thesis (MPhil (Modern Foreign Languages))--University of Stellenbosch, 2005. / This research is based on a study which was made in order to investigate why the students who study Education at the Eastern Cape Technikon fail to acquire competence in essay writing, in spite of going through the Computer program that is being used by the Department of Communication. The name of this program is the Writing Process Workshop, and will be referred to as the WPW throughout the study. This program has been in use at the Technikon as a form of supplementary program for those students who were perceived to have shortfalls1 in their essay writing communication skills. This perception came about from the Department of Communication which decided that those students who scored less than 40% overall in (in language, not in content) their assignments, class works, and tests should go through the program and work independently, in the hope that their performance will improve. The study spans over two years, with the first year being the period where the researcher collected data in the form of written errors that the students made in their essays. The second year of the research is the period when the main research took place. During the second year of the research, the researcher observed the students as they went through the WPW for three months. Upon completing the program, the students were asked to respond to a questionnaire. In addition to the questionnaire, the researcher examined the student errors that occurred in the students’ essays throughout 2003 (while they were on the program, together with the ones from last year (2003). The reason for this was to determine if the errors that were present in 2002 are still present even after the students had gone through the WPW. The researcher then found that there was still considerable occurrence of the same errors in the students’ essays, a fact which led the researcher to deduce that very little improvement in the writing skills of the students has occurred between 2002 and 2003. To explain the above point further, the research findings indicated that the essay-writing competence of the subjects did not improve in spite of the WPW intervention.The researcher then went on to evaluate the program, using a set of guidelines2, and found it consistent with the requirements of the evaluation; and therefore ruled it out as the cause of the failure of students to improve their competence in writing. Based on the findings of the study, the researcher found that the students do not put conscious effort to apply what they have learnt in the program, and that some have not even completed the required tasks from the program. She also found that there is lack of integration of the software into the curriculum. Specific recommendations in Chapter 9 are given on how to facilitate this integration and to motivate the students to apply what they have learnt from the WPW to the mainstream essay writing exercises.

Thesis (MPhil (Modern Foreign Languages))--University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / Arts and Culture is one of the new learning areas in the grade 8 and 9 school curriculum. To understand and then express themselves in a correct and confident manner, learners need the correct terminology for Arts and Culture. The learners need more than the day to day terminology in order to participate in conversations focussing on specialised subjects such as music, dance, drama and visual arts. It is important to note that the idea is not to develop expert academics but it is an attempt to enrich children for life and give them more self confidence. The aim of this computer project is to provide an information website to assist the grade 9 learners in the Arts and Culture domain to develop the appropriate language needed in the learning area.

Thesis (MPhil (Modern Foreign Languages))--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / It is widely recognized that learning to read is one of the most crucial learning processes in which children are involved at primary school. However, becoming a proficient reader is not equally easy for all learners. When it comes to the development of reading comprehension many children appear to have persistent problems. In order to meet the reading needs of students in the 21st century, educators are pressed to develop effective instructional means for teaching strategies to improve reading comprehension. The ability to read academic texts is considered one of the most crucial skills that students of English as a Second Language need to acquire. Reading comprehension has become the “essence of reading” (Dreyer & Nel, 2003:349). Literacy, and more specifically reading, is one of many areas where research has provided evidence of the potential impact of technology such as multimedia and hypermedia. If one looks broadly at the issue of technology and literacy, one of the more rewarding issues for educators is the role of technology in literacy acquisition and instruction, especially for primary grade learners (Pearson et al, 2005:3). This study aims to support the growing trend of an increasingly “paired” literacy, namely that of general literacy and computer (or technological) literacy. The study proposes that through implementing an overall blended-learning methodology for teaching learners how to use reading strategies, it will be possible to improve learners’ general reading comprehension levels.

Thesis (MPhil (Modern Foreign Languages))--University of Stellenbosch, 2005. / In this thesis, I pinpoint the challenge of character learning as my research problem, which is the subsequent motivation to explain the background and rationale of my research. I also discuss the theoretical concepts of Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) in relation to cognitive psychology, the constructivist learning theory and Second Language Acquisition theories. This leads to the presentation of my considerations regarding design principles, strategic approach and other relevant decisions. The multimedia project I designed, named the “Chinese Character Challenger”, a “supplementary courseware for assisting students learning characters”, is an informational and educational-oriented website. It provides learners with the necessary knowledge, hints, tips and sources to cope with their specific learning problems and to achieve their learning potential. It also introduces external resources of learning if learners need further research. The purpose of the website is to assist, to motivate and to further guide students’ learning. To conclude, I have discussed some open issues with regards to adding value in the learning environment.

Este trabalho analisa a memória discursiva sobre o ensino de línguas estrangeiras em contexto escolar no arquivo jurídico e legislativo brasileiro, com ênfase na língua espanhola. Das duas partes que compõem esta tese, a primeira compreende a análise de documentos do arquivo jurídico brasileiro, produzidos entre 1757 e 1996, sobre a questão do ensino de línguas; tais documentos entram em relação com a Lei No. 11.161/2005, que prevê a oferta orbigatória do espanhol nas escolas de Ensino Médio a partir de 2010, também objeto de análise dessa Parte I. Já a segunda parte mobiliza documentos do arquivo legislativo por meio da análise de proposições e justificações de quatro Projetos de Lei (PL\'s) - de 1958, 1987, 1993 e 2000 - apresentados ao Congresso Nacional com o objetivo de incluir o espanhol como disciplina obrigatória no sistema educacional brasileiro; em tal análise, detectam-se aspectos das condições de produção desses PL\'s mediante a observação dos processos de determinação dos territórios objetos da integração que neles se enunciam e da projeção da imagem de isolamento do território nacional no contexto sul-americano. / This study, composed of two parts, analyses the discursive memory about foreign languages teaching in school context in the Brazilian juridical and legislative archive, with an emphasis on the Spanish language. The first part of the thesis comprehends the analysis of documents of the Brazilian juridical archive, produced between 1757 and 1996, about languages teaching; these documents are concerned with the Law 11.161/2005, which sets the obligatory offer of the Spanish language to high school students, and which is also an object of analysis in this first part of the study. The second part of the thesis deals with documents of the legislative archive through the analysis of the proposições and justificações of four Bills of 1958, 1987, 1993 and 2000 presented to the National Congress with the purpose of including the Spanish language as an obligatory discipline in the Brazilian Educational System; results of this analysis point to the detection of aspects of the conditions of production of these Bills by the observation of the processes of determination of the territories that were objects of the integration which is stated in them and of the projection of isolation of the national territory in the South American context.

Este trabalho surgiu com o principal objetivo de analisar como se materializou o que estava previsto na textualidade da Lei 11.161/2005 nos documentos jurídicos produzidos no Estado de São Paulo, especificamente no que se refere a sua implantação. Ao tomarmos esta lei como objeto de estudo, situamo-nos teoricamente na Análise do Discurso de linha materialista e no que nesse campo se entende como política de língua(s). Nossa pesquisa permite conhecer trajetos da memória discursiva vinculada ao ensino de línguas estrangeiras nas escolas regulares do Estado de São Paulo a partir de 1961 (ano de publicação da primeira Lei de Diretrizes e Bases da Educação Nacional). O movimento de análise que realizamos implicou a construção de um corpus com base no arquivo jurídico vinculado a três instâncias: Conselho Estadual de Educação, Secretaria da Educação do Estado e Assembleia Legislativa do Estado de São Paulo, e um trabalho de interpretação dos documentos que o compõem. Duas perguntas são norteadoras: de um lado, como são significadas as línguas estrangeiras e principalmente a espanhola e como operam certos apagamentos e deslizamentos no modo de significá-las; de outro, qual o lugar que o espanhol e que outras línguas estrangeiras ocupam no ensino regular. A análise da documentação nos leva a concluir que há uma décalage no modo de significar as línguas estrangeiras: enquanto o inglês se estabelece sólida e exclusivamente no currículo regular, o espanhol e as outras línguas estrangeiras ficam fadadas ao extracurricular este último vinculado, sobretudo, aos Centros de Estudos de Línguas que também abordamos nesta dissertação. Por fim, nas Considerações Finais algumas observações sobre a sanção da Lei 13.415/2017 que revoga a Lei do Espanhol permitem confirmar, especificamente no que se refere às línguas estrangeiras, as conclusões de nossa análise. / The main purpose of this research is to analyze how what was predicted in the textuality of the law 11.161/2005 in legal documents of São Paulo state materialized, especially concerning its enactment. Using this law as object of study, one is theoretically positioned in the Discourse Analysis of the materialist line and in what is understood, in this field, as language(s) policy(ies). The research carried out here allows us to identify the paths of the discursive memory linked to the teaching of foreign languages in regular schools in the State of São Paulo from 1961 (the year when the first Law of Guidelines and Bases of National Education was published). The analysis that was carried out implied building up a corpus based on legal files linked to three agencies: the State Education Council, the State Education Secretariat and the Legislative Assembly of the State of São Paulo, and a careful study interpreting the documents from these files. This study is guided by two questions: firstly, how foreign languages and especially Spanish are signified, and how certain deletions and slides operate in the way of signifying them and, secondly, the place that Spanish and other foreign languages occupy within regular education. The analysis of the documentation leads to the conclusion that there has been a decline in the meaning of foreign languages: while English is firmly and exclusively established in the regular curriculum, Spanish and other foreign languages are relegated to the position of \"extracurricular\" the latter linked, especially, to the Language Studies Centers, also addressed in this dissertation. Finally, after Final Considerations, some observations on the approval of Law 13.415/2017, rejecting the \"Spanish Law\", allows one to confirm the conclusions of this analysis, specifically with regard to what is referred to as foreign languages.

Este trabalho analisa a memória discursiva sobre o ensino de línguas estrangeiras em contexto escolar no arquivo jurídico e legislativo brasileiro, com ênfase na língua espanhola. Das duas partes que compõem esta tese, a primeira compreende a análise de documentos do arquivo jurídico brasileiro, produzidos entre 1757 e 1996, sobre a questão do ensino de línguas; tais documentos entram em relação com a Lei No. 11.161/2005, que prevê a oferta orbigatória do espanhol nas escolas de Ensino Médio a partir de 2010, também objeto de análise dessa Parte I. Já a segunda parte mobiliza documentos do arquivo legislativo por meio da análise de proposições e justificações de quatro Projetos de Lei (PL\'s) - de 1958, 1987, 1993 e 2000 - apresentados ao Congresso Nacional com o objetivo de incluir o espanhol como disciplina obrigatória no sistema educacional brasileiro; em tal análise, detectam-se aspectos das condições de produção desses PL\'s mediante a observação dos processos de determinação dos territórios objetos da integração que neles se enunciam e da projeção da imagem de isolamento do território nacional no contexto sul-americano. / This study, composed of two parts, analyses the discursive memory about foreign languages teaching in school context in the Brazilian juridical and legislative archive, with an emphasis on the Spanish language. The first part of the thesis comprehends the analysis of documents of the Brazilian juridical archive, produced between 1757 and 1996, about languages teaching; these documents are concerned with the Law 11.161/2005, which sets the obligatory offer of the Spanish language to high school students, and which is also an object of analysis in this first part of the study. The second part of the thesis deals with documents of the legislative archive through the analysis of the proposições and justificações of four Bills of 1958, 1987, 1993 and 2000 presented to the National Congress with the purpose of including the Spanish language as an obligatory discipline in the Brazilian Educational System; results of this analysis point to the detection of aspects of the conditions of production of these Bills by the observation of the processes of determination of the territories that were objects of the integration which is stated in them and of the projection of isolation of the national territory in the South American context.

Este trabalho surgiu com o principal objetivo de analisar como se materializou o que estava previsto na textualidade da Lei 11.161/2005 nos documentos jurídicos produzidos no Estado de São Paulo, especificamente no que se refere a sua implantação. Ao tomarmos esta lei como objeto de estudo, situamo-nos teoricamente na Análise do Discurso de linha materialista e no que nesse campo se entende como política de língua(s). Nossa pesquisa permite conhecer trajetos da memória discursiva vinculada ao ensino de línguas estrangeiras nas escolas regulares do Estado de São Paulo a partir de 1961 (ano de publicação da primeira Lei de Diretrizes e Bases da Educação Nacional). O movimento de análise que realizamos implicou a construção de um corpus com base no arquivo jurídico vinculado a três instâncias: Conselho Estadual de Educação, Secretaria da Educação do Estado e Assembleia Legislativa do Estado de São Paulo, e um trabalho de interpretação dos documentos que o compõem. Duas perguntas são norteadoras: de um lado, como são significadas as línguas estrangeiras e principalmente a espanhola e como operam certos apagamentos e deslizamentos no modo de significá-las; de outro, qual o lugar que o espanhol e que outras línguas estrangeiras ocupam no ensino regular. A análise da documentação nos leva a concluir que há uma décalage no modo de significar as línguas estrangeiras: enquanto o inglês se estabelece sólida e exclusivamente no currículo regular, o espanhol e as outras línguas estrangeiras ficam fadadas ao extracurricular este último vinculado, sobretudo, aos Centros de Estudos de Línguas que também abordamos nesta dissertação. Por fim, nas Considerações Finais algumas observações sobre a sanção da Lei 13.415/2017 que revoga a Lei do Espanhol permitem confirmar, especificamente no que se refere às línguas estrangeiras, as conclusões de nossa análise. / The main purpose of this research is to analyze how what was predicted in the textuality of the law 11.161/2005 in legal documents of São Paulo state materialized, especially concerning its enactment. Using this law as object of study, one is theoretically positioned in the Discourse Analysis of the materialist line and in what is understood, in this field, as language(s) policy(ies). The research carried out here allows us to identify the paths of the discursive memory linked to the teaching of foreign languages in regular schools in the State of São Paulo from 1961 (the year when the first Law of Guidelines and Bases of National Education was published). The analysis that was carried out implied building up a corpus based on legal files linked to three agencies: the State Education Council, the State Education Secretariat and the Legislative Assembly of the State of São Paulo, and a careful study interpreting the documents from these files. This study is guided by two questions: firstly, how foreign languages and especially Spanish are signified, and how certain deletions and slides operate in the way of signifying them and, secondly, the place that Spanish and other foreign languages occupy within regular education. The analysis of the documentation leads to the conclusion that there has been a decline in the meaning of foreign languages: while English is firmly and exclusively established in the regular curriculum, Spanish and other foreign languages are relegated to the position of \"extracurricular\" the latter linked, especially, to the Language Studies Centers, also addressed in this dissertation. Finally, after Final Considerations, some observations on the approval of Law 13.415/2017, rejecting the \"Spanish Law\", allows one to confirm the conclusions of this analysis, specifically with regard to what is referred to as foreign languages.

Syftet med min studie är att synliggöra elevers erfarenheter om vad som gör ämnet moderna språk i år 8 och 9 intressant, genom att ta reda på hur eleverna upplever sina språkstudier och studera vilka faktorer som styr deras motivation. Jag har genomfört två intervjuer med sammanlagt åtta elever i åk 8 och 9 på högstadiet. Två elever i franska , fem elever i tyska och en elev i spanska. Elevsvaren har sedan analyserats och sorterats upp utifrån uppsatsens huvudkategorier. De olika teorierna är: "mentala självbilder", "autentiska/verklighetsbaserade skoluppgifter", "growth mindset/självkänsla" och "lärarens roll". Eleverna tycker att läraren är den viktigaste källan till motivation i språkklassrummet. Andra exempel på motiverande faktorer eleverna nämner inkluderar mer muntliga verklighetsbaserade uppgifter och riligare lektionsupplägg. Några demotiverande faktorer som nämns av eleverna är att deras goda engelskakunskaper har negativ inverkan på inlärningen av det moderna språket samt att deras upplevelser av att kunna för lite på målspråket för att kunna uttrycka sig fritt.

Thesis (MPhil (Modern Foreign Languages))--University of Stellenbosch, 2006. / Currently new teaching and learning paradigms are being called for in response to the ever increasing importance of the electronic media and information technologies, such as computers, in our daily lives and in education. In Language Teaching the reading of literary texts has received a lack of attention. The application developed for this study is an attempt to address this shortcoming. The application contains a reading programme which focuses on a German youth novel, Als aus Janusz Jan wurde by Herbert Somplatski, as well additional supporting texts, both literary and non-literary, and background information. By integrating this reading material into an interactive multimedia web-based computer application, it is hoped that it can be shown how reading can be made more attractive and effective in FLA (Foreign Language Acquisition). The application was designed against the background of current and planned South African syllabi for Second Additional Languages and by taking into account modern cognitive-constructivist learning theories, current requirements for multimedia design and CALL (Computer Assisted Language Learning) as well as various reading models and strategies. All these aspects regarding the design of the application and how they affect reading in FLA are discussed in this thesis. In addition a few prognostic suggestions are proposed.