Mother tongue in preschool    This study seeks to create an understanding of how preschool educators can participate in promoting and encouraging children's mother tongue in their activities to strengthen the children's identity. It explores the ways in which educators actively promote the children's mother tongue in their work approach and how they perceive the importance of cooperation between preschool and home regarding the children's mother tongue. The study investigates using the case study method, specifically conducted through qualitative interviews and observations. Survey sampled was of two preschools where two educators of varying job positions and length of work experience which have been interviewed and observed. The study analyzes from a sociocultural perspective, which takes into account how learning takes place through interactions among individuals and the social and cultural factors surrounding them.  Based on the reported results of the interviews and observations, it appears that the educators are positively related to mother tongue in preschool and use mother tongue support in the activities in a deliberate way to promote the child's identity. There were spontaneous situations in which mother tongue was included in the activity, and there were situations where the educators deliberately used mother tongue to clarify concepts that the children do not understand in swedish. In instances where the identity expresses characteristics of children's mother tongue, the educators sees that these register on the child's posture and facial expressions. The educators note that children feel a sense of accomplishment and ownership when they claim competence to express “my language”, indicating self-awareness of their individuality and unique language. The educators use conversations and planned singing and reading lessons in different mother tongue as part of the daily activities and tools such as digital learning tablets, the computer and the smart board facilitate mother tongue support in preschool activities. Educators believe that, through the various available tools in preschool, cooperation with parents, and the educators’ multilingual abilities are contributory factors of great importance, that support mother tongue development and encourages a multilingual environment in preschool.

Throughout the history of English Language teaching, the pendulum of L1 use has shifted drastically depending on the method that had gained prominence during a particular period of time. Today, that pendulum has yet to settle and the use of a learner's first language during instruction in a second language classroom continues to be an issue of serious debate. This study aimed to examine the effect of L1 use in instruction on the performance of low proficiency level learners on a grammar task of the present and progressives tenses in an ESL/IEP environment. To determine its effect, the 24 Arabic speaking English learners participating in the study were divided into two groups, an English-Only instruction group and an English & Arabic instruction group and an instrument with three item types (items with adverbials, non-action verbs and context clues that determined tense use) was created. The participants were given the instrument as a pre-and post-test before and after instruction on present and progressive tense use in either English only or English and Arabic according to the group. After the post-test, the students took a survey intended to ascertain their perceptions of the instruction they received. The quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and independent and dependent t-tests to draw comparisons between the means of the performance scores of both groups and within each group over the pre- and post-tests. Additionally, the quantitative data from the survey underwent content analysis to discover themes for student preference for instructional language use in the classroom. The resultant findings showed that the participants in the English & Arabic Group performed better on the grammar task and had greater percent increases from the pre-test to the post-test than the English-Only Group. The means of the total performance score and of the question types exhibited these same increases. The surveys indicated that the participants in the English & Arabic Group understood their instruction better and a majority of the participants preferred the use of both English and Arabic during grammar instruction irrespective of language instructional group during the treatment. This study showed that the use of L1 in the classroom has measureable positive effects on the learning of the students. Moreover, it has contributed to the growing body of research in favor of L1 use in the classroom and has considerable implications for the field of second language teaching.

Throughout the history of language teaching and its pedagogy, many researchers have turned a blind eye to the pedagogical role of the first language (L1) in the second language (L2) classroom. However, the pendulum has recently swung the other way to indicate possible and effective integration of the (L1) in (L2) classrooms. This study sets out to explore the effect of the L1 and L2 on the recall of ESL vocabulary among low-advanced Saudi learners of English in the U.S. For the purpose of the study, 30 Saudi ESL students were recruited and divided into two groups (L1 translation group and L2 definition group). The L1 translation group received a list of English words translated into Arabic whereas the L2 definition group were given the same list of English words but with English definitions. Participants in both groups were asked to study and memorize the target words along with the meaning of each word. Afterwards, an immediate fill-in-the-blank post-test was given to examine whether L1 translation helps participants recall the given L2 vocabulary. Prior to the post-test, participants were given a questionnaire to indicate the most frequently used strategy when learning L2 vocabulary. After the data were analyzed quantitatively employing an independent t-test, the resultant findings showed that L1 translation indeed promotes the immediate recall of L2 vocabulary among Saudi ESL learners. The data elicited from the questionnaire also provided enough evidence that Saudi ESL learners frequently use Arabic more than other strategies to access and understand English. This study showed that L1 translation has a great positive effect on the learning of L2 vocabulary among low-advanced Saudi ESL learners.

Orientador: Maria Rita Salzano Moraes / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-16T09:58:03Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Gasparini_DeniseSouzaRodrigues_M.pdf: 657969 bytes, checksum: a083b328e5b3074f8b63c8c68106649d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010 / Resumo: Este trabalho pretende discutir as ressignificações que os conceitos tradicionais de língua materna e de língua estrangeira - a saber, aquela como exterioridade adquirida em primeiro lugar, falada pela mãe ou responsável pela unificação de uma nação, e esta como exterioridade aprendida a partir de investimentos racionais e conscientes e depois de um razoável conhecimento da língua materna - recebem a partir das hipóteses da Psicanálise, e assim tomá-los sob outro ponto de vista: respectivamente, língua causa do sujeito do inconsciente e prolongamento do campo simbólico instaurado pela chamada língua materna. Remontar a estes termos a partir da teoria psicanalítica impõe a consideração de lalangue, responsável pela instauração da matriz simbolizante no sujeito de linguagem, como elemento organizador da relação entre as línguas, bem como elemento que reverbera seus afetos e seus efeitos em toda tentativa de aprendizagem de qualquer novo item do campo simbólico, tal como uma língua estrangeira / Abstract: This thesis has the objective of discussing the possible re-significations of the traditional concepts of mother tongue and foreign language considering psychoanalytic theory. The mother tongue is usually considered an external element - the language spoken by the mother or the language that unifies a nation - which is acquired before the foreign language. On the other hand, the foreign language is considered an external element which is learned by rational and conscious investments. Once the psychoanalytic theory is taken into consideration, both the mother tongue and the foreign language can be re-signified: the former becomes the language which causes the unconscious subject and the latter becomes an extension of the symbolic field constituted by the mother tongue. Lalangue can then be considered the element which organizes the relationship between mother tongue and foreign language, the element whose effects reverberate in each attempt at learning any element of the symbolic field, such as a foreign language / Mestrado / Lingua Estrangeira / Mestre em Linguística Aplicada

Abstract The topic of this thesis is to provide an analysis of how language is perceived in the textbooks used in lower secondary school mother-tongue classes. Scientific literature on this subject has defined ‘perception of language’ as referring to a collective approach to words, structures and phenomena of a language. ‘Perception of language’ includes a comprehensive notion of language as a system, of the ways it can be used and of its influence to its users. This study aims to provide new information responding to the needs of language cultivation and teaching. New information is needed on several issues pertaining to pedagogical approaches to teaching of mother tongue and literature. Didactics must now respond to the challenges represented by every-day life. The theoretical framework for this thesis is provided by critical discourse analysis, in particular as put forward by Norman Fairclough. Accordingly, the contents of text books are addressed from five different aspects: (i) grammar, (ii) linguistic cultivation, (iii) text linguistics, (iv) variation and (v) semantics and pragmatics. The main conclusion is that mother tongue represents itself as a random and controversial phenomenon. The learner will be treated not only as a child but also as a full-grown with full capacities. A key assumption is, nevertheless, that the texts given in the books will provide the learner with new knowledge. Conclusions on the different topics discussed include: (i) In grammar only a limited range of topics are included: lexical classes and sentence constituents. (ii) Language cultivation (planning) as presented in the books involves grammatical aspects but same issues come into consideration year after year. (iii) As far as textual competences are concerned, media and non-entertainment communication show a high ranking at the cost of creative and word-play elements of facts-based texts. (iv) Variation in Finnish is presented in the text books rather comprehensively but still in a narrow way. However, this will allow for enhancing a “learner identity”. (v) Semantics and pragmatics only have a small presence in the last year even though their level of abstraction could prove them very useful at that stage. Text books contribute to the wide perception of mother tongue as a less-liked subject. Still: these books aim to come closer to the learner’s real life. It is well possible for the school to overcome these barriers to how language is used. Mother-tongue text books pave the way for the learner to become an informed, educated individual. / Tiivistelmä Tutkimuksen aiheena on kielikäsitys peruskoulun yläkoulun äidinkielen oppikirjoissa. Aiempaan tutkimuskirjallisuuteen nojautuen kielikäsitys on määritelty siten, että se tarkoittaa kollektiivista näkemystä kielen sanoista, rakenteista ja ilmiöistä. Kielikäsitys sisältää ajatuksen siitä, millainen kieli on järjestelmänä, mitä sillä voidaan tehdä ja mitä se tekee meille. Päämääränä on ollut tuottaa uutta tietoa käytännön kielenhuollon ja opetustyön tarpeisiin. Tarvitaan uutta tietoa monista äidinkielen ja kirjallisuuden pedagogiikan asioista. Didaktiikan täytyy koettaa vastata arkielämän asettamiin haasteisiin. Teoreettisena taustana on kriittinen diskurssianalyysi, erityisesti Norman Faircloughin viitoittaman esikuvan mukaisesti. Tällöin oppikirjojen sisältöjä kuvataan, tulkitaan ja selitetään viidestä eri näkökulmasta: (i) kieliopin, (ii) kielenhuollon, (iii) tekstiopin, (iv) variaation sekä (v) semantiikan ja pragmatiikan vinkkelistä. Keskeisin päätelmä on, että oppikirjoissa äidinkieli esittäytyy hajanaisena ja ristiriitaisena ilmiönä. Yhtäällä oppijaa lähestytään lapsena mutta toisaalla häntä pidetään täysivaltaisena aikuisena. Silti keskeistä on, että kasvatettavan uskotaan oppivan uusia asioita oppikirjojen tarjoamien tekstien varassa. Tarkastelluista osa-alueista voi todeta seuraavaa: (i) Kieliopin opetus rajoittuu vain muutamiin asioihin: sanaluokkiin ja lauseenjäseniin. (ii) Kielenhuollon yhteydessä käsitellään myös kieliopin asioita; kielenhuolto toistaa samoja asioita vuodesta toiseen. (iii) Tekstitaidoissa korostuu media ja asiaviestintä; asiaproosaan sisältyvä luovuus ja sanaleikittely jäävät katveeseen. (iv) Suomen kielen vaihtelua oppikirjat esittelevät laajasti mutta ohuesti; variaation käsittely sinänsä antaa mahdollisuudet oppijan identiteetin vahvistumiseen. (v) Peruskoulun viimeisellä luokalla semantiikan ja pragmatiikan osuus on vähäinen, vaikka abstraktiotasonsa perusteella juuri ne saattaisivat olla otollista oppiainesta. Oppikirjat ovat osaltaan vahvistamassa yleistä käsitystä, että äidinkieli on vastenmielinen oppiaine. Korostettava silti on, että esimerkiksi huumoria hyväksi käyttäen teokset yrittävät lähestyä oppijan todellisuutta. On mahdollista, että koulussa saavutetaan vapautuminen kielenkäytön pidikkeistä. Äidinkielen oppikirjat tarjoavat väylän oppijan sivistyä.

This diploma theses introduces case studies of bilingual children attending Czech School Without Borders, London (CSWBL) that focuses on their education in this supplementary school. The theoretical part determines the term bilingualism. The aim is to describe aspects of bilingualism in students of CSWBL and specifics of their education with consideration of their frequent mistakes. In one chapter we describe institutions providing education to bilingual children worldwide. Another chapter outlines curriculum of "Czech schools without borders", curriculum of CSWBL and worksheets used for classwork in CSWBL. We are aware that textbooks for bilingual speaker do not yet exist. Empiric part focuses on creation of educational materials for Reception and Year 1 classes, both based on curriculum of CSWBL. This material is used during the lessons and evaluated. We describe in total six Saturday lessons, which took place at school year 2015/16. The lessons were based on those materials we created. Whilst creating the education materials we got inspired by Czech language textbooks, Czech for foreigners textbooks, CSWBL archive and internet sources. Key words bilingvism, methodology, biculturalism, mothar tongue

This study compares the different primary school language of instruction models found in South Africa for performance on the higher-order reading comprehension processes tested in the international, large-scale assessment, prePIRLS 2011. The language of instruction groupings include the African languages, Afrikaans, English L1 and English L2 as an immersion model. The marked differences in performance observed on the higher-order prePIRLS 2011 items across the language models are not singular reasons for performance in themselves, but reflect embedded contextual factors that influence performance. It was, therefore, examined how language of instruction creates or restricts access to ‘social tools’ and ‘cultural capital’ which mediate the development of higher-order reading comprehension at home and at school. It was found that socio-economic status (SES) at the school level contributes 86.06 (SE=20.48) and 98.54 (SE=17.28) score points for English (N=2 205) and Afrikaans (N=1 463) respectively as a school level indicator. For the Afrikaans LoLT grouping access to text explained 44 score points (SE=11.09). Neither SES nor access to text explained significant variance in performance for the African languages schools when examined within the language grouping (N= 12 076). A linear regression (N=6 342) showed that low SES learners whose language of instruction is English, despite it not being their mother tongue, benefit by 20.35 score points (equivalent to half a year) from being in the English L2 group, in comparison to the African languages L1 group as a measure of achievement on the higher-order subscale. The hypothesis that SES and access to text significantly affect performance in higher-order reading comprehension was further supported by the findings of a two-level regression, showing that access to text at school contributed 32.91 score points (B=32.91, SE=13.96, p=.03) to performance for English L2 low SES learners (N=480). It is argued that better provision of text at school can mediate the development of the cognitive and metacognitive reading strategies required for higher-order reading comprehension across all language of instruction models and socio-economic strata. Print material is often more accessible to learners in English. This strengthens a pragmatic, contextually-based argument for focused prioritisation of English L2 instruction concomitant to raising the quality of home language instruction. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2017. / Science, Mathematics and Technology Education / Centre for Evaluation & Assessment (CEA) / PhD / Unrestricted

Department of English / PhD (English) / The study sought to investigate the role played by learners’ mother tongue, in the teaching and learning of English in secondary schools in Zimbabwe. Two secondary schools in Masvingo District were used as a case study. The study was informed by bilingualism, models of bilingualism and related theories such as Second Language Acquisition (SLA) and Communication Strategies. The selected communication strategy that was focused on is code-switching. This communication strategy reveals the important role that the learners’ L1 can play in learning English. The study, therefore, sought to gain insights into the beliefs of secondary school teachers and learners of English about the use of code-switching in the teaching and learning of English. The study also sought to investigate the ESL teachers’ perceptions on the relationship between code-switching and emerging varieties of English called New Englishes, as well as the teachers’ perceptions on the teaching of such local varieties of English. The inquiry adopted a qualitative research paradigm and focused on two purposively sampled secondary schools comprising one rural day, and one urban boarding school that also enrols day learners. It was the researcher’s belief that these schools would offer useful insights about the role of the learners’ L1 in the teaching and learning of English. The study employed three data collection tools, namely observation, interviews and focus group discussions. Ten Form One and ten Form Three English lessons were observed per school, to give a total of twenty lessons. The four ESL teachers whose lessons were observed at the two schools were interviewed. The researcher also held focus group discussions with a sample of a group of ten Form One and ten Form Three English learners per school. Thus, four focus group discussions were held. Data were analysed and presented qualitatively through identification of emerging themes, and through descriptions, narratives, direct quotes, and tables. Results show that the ESL teachers and learners who participated in the study code-switched from English to the learners’ L1 as a communication strategy and teaching and learning tool, mainly to foster understanding among learners and between the learners and their teachers, and for other communicative and social functions. Results also indicate that there was more code-switching at School B (rural day secondary school) than at School A (urban boarding secondary school), although the teachers’ and learners’ code-switching functions at the two secondary schools were by and large similar. It also emerged that the frequencies of the teachers code v switching differed from teacher to teacher, with Teacher A (urban boarding secondary school) code-switching moderately and Teacher B (urban boarding secondary school) code-switching minimally, while Teacher C and Teacher D (rural day secondary school) code-switched frequently. With regard to the learners, the study revealed that Class A learners (urban boarding secondary school) code-switched moderately during formal classroom exchanges with their teacher, but code-switched a lot among themselves. Class B learners (urban boarding secondary school), Class C and Class D learners (rural day secondary school), code-switched minimally during formal classroom exchanges with their teachers. However, as was the case with Class A learners, they code-switched a lot among themselves. The teachers were largely tolerant of their learners’ code-switching although they showed awareness of the possible negative effects of learners’ code-switching in the learning of ESL. As for the learners, the majority expressed an appreciation of their teachers’ code-switching but there were also negative sentiments against the teachers’ code-switching. The inquiry also revealed that there was unanimous agreement among the four teachers that there is a relationship between code-switching and New Englishes. In addition, two of the teachers expressed the view that there is nothing wrong with teaching the local variety of English in the schools, while the other two said they preferred the teaching of ‘standard’ English. In light of the findings, the study recommends that language policy planners revisit the English-only policy in the school and consider adopting the endonormative rather than the exo-normative model of English for the education system. The study also recommends that the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education should hold workshops to sensitise teachers on how code-switching may best be employed as a teaching and learning tool. Furthermore, the study recommends that ESL teachers be guided by the Postmethod pedagogy, a sense of plausibility as well as the notion of relativism in their decisions on code-switching. In addition, the inquiry recommends that the Zimbabwe Schools Examinations Council be sensitive to aspects of the local variety of English rather than set exo-normative models. Finally, the study recommends that further research be done on code-switching in school types which were not included in the sample for the present study.

The purpose of this study is the challenges that the teaching of SO subjects faces in the multicultural classroom. These challenges pose a problem in the process of developing students with a foreign background. The aim of this study is to highlight the challenges and opportunities that the teacher faces with students in the multicultural classroom as well as the solutions and strategies that the teacher uses to develop multicultural students. Therefore, empirical material from in-depth interviews was used about how teachers work and challenges and strategies related to this teaching area. I found few studies that address challenges and difficulties for those who have to learn socially relevant subjects in Sweden. The method that has been used is to interview four teachers in two schools. The result of this study shows that teachers use different ways to support the students in their learning of the SO subjects, for example, by using lists of important terms and words, or by using a teacher assistant in the mother tongue. By the teacher supporting the students in the right way, the students can apply new knowledge. Keywords: multicultural classroom, mother tongue and teacher assistant.

The purpose of this study was to understand the issue of the language of instruction to school literacy learning in rural Haiti. Using a narrative approach, 10 participants who live and work in a rural village in Northern Haiti were involved. I sought to examine their experience and perspectives on the issue as well as their level of awareness and the ways they navigate through the system to succeed in life. The dissertation also investigated their struggle to learn using a language over which they do not have much command and that they do not speak at home and in their community. This dissertation drew from critical pedagogy, as a conceptual framework that advocates for emancipation by providing quality and equitable education for all students as agents of change filled with intellectual potentiality and the ability to address oppressive patterns in society and challenge the status quo. Data from subjects were collected from focus groups, in-class observations, and semi-structured interviews. The analysis of the data was done utilizing three coding cycles and three themes were identified: 1) Students’ production based on the language in use, 2) The importance of the setting for language mastery and literacy learning, and 3) The role of language mastery in students’ success in school and in the workplace. The study suggests implications for future research, parents, and school leaders. The findings identify gaps and purpose to add to the literature given the paucity of research on the issue of the language of instruction as applied to schools in rural Haiti.Keywords: literacy learning, language of instruction, mother tongue, bilingualism, code-switching