This diploma thesis explores the possibility of mapping the reception of a literary text in terms of language management processes and in succession unveils the main differences in the perception of a literary text by a native opposed to a non-native speaker. The first three chapters treat the research methodology, which is based on Language Management Theory, Neustupný's approach to literary criticism through this concrete theory and single elements from formalism and structuralism. The research, which is described in chapters four to seven, focuses on the different moments of noting, evaluation and problem solving strategies realised by two readers of a modern Czech short story (one native and one non-native speaker). These processes are identified and analysed by the means of follow-up interviews. The aim of the thesis is to establish a complex methodology of identifying, describing and interpreting management processes which occur during the reception of a literary text and further to investigate the main characteristics that distinguish this process in the case of a native and a non-native recipient of the text.

Comment définir des objectifs d’apprentissage linguistiques spécifiques à un public d’étudiants allophones dans le domaine de la production écrite par l’étude d’un genre particulièrement représenté dans les littéracies universitaires : le texte argumentatif ? Partant de l’hypothèse de la nécessité d’un enseignement conjoint de la langue et des contenus disciplinaires, notre travail consiste à proposer des approches et modalités complémentaires aux outils du FLE « tout public » utilisés pour l’enseignement du français à l’université. Nous analysons d’abord ces outils du FLE : manuels de l’approche actionnelle, CECRL et certifications de langues (DELF/DALF et TCF), afin de mettre en exergue leurs apports pour un public étudiants allophones , mais aussi les lacunes qu’ils présentent pour une formation spécifiquement universitaire. Les études menées dans le domaine du FOU nous ont ensuite permis de formuler 5 hypothèses préalables à l’analyse de notre corpus contrastif. Ce corpus a été constitué dans le but d’identifier les besoins spécifiques des étudiants allophones dans l’exercice d’une production écrite argumentée. Il est constitué de productions d’étudiants allophones d’une part (corpus ETR) et francophones d’autre part (corpus FR). Nous présentons ce corpus et son analyse selon la typologie constituée sur la base de nos hypothèses de départ et proposons pour conclure une grille de critères permettant d’établir une évaluation diagnostique des compétences en littéracies universitaires. Enfin, nous soumettons quelques propositions didactiques pour des séances dans le cadre d’un enseignement de Français sur Objectifs Universitaires. / How can we define the specific learning outcomes of non-native students of French within the area of written production ? In order to answer this question, we study a highly frequent genre within academic literacy : the argumentative text.Given the neccessity of jointly teaching language and discipline based contents, our study aims to add approaches and modalities to « general » French as a Foreign Language (FLE) used to teach French at university. Emphasizing both their added value to the teaching of non-native speakers and their shortcomings when dealing with French for academic purposes, we set out to analyse the following tools : textbooks following the action-oriented approach, CEFRL, and language certifications (such as TCF, DELF/DALF).Drawing on existing studies of French for academic purposes, we came up with five hypothesises prior to the study of a comparative corpus. This corpus was established in order to identify the non-native speakers’ specific needs when faced with an argumentative written production. It consists of both productions by non-native (corpus ETR) and native speakers of French (corpus FR). This material is presented and analysed within the frame of a typology based on our initial hypothesises resulting in a framework of criteria facilitating a diagnostic evaluation of the academic literacy competency. Finally, we give didactic suggestions for the teaching of French for academic purposes.

Some researchers that work with metaphor theory claim that metaphors and figurative language are understood and processed just as easily as literal language. However, as this thesis will explore in detail, other research indicates that such is not always the case. That is, if the category of metaphor is further subcategorized into conventional and non-conventional metaphor, the scope will change because of the fact that it is possible to argue that non-conventionalized metaphors require a more conscious path of processing. In order to explain this alternative path, there are two primary approaches to language processing worth introducing: implicit and explicit. These approaches vary in required attention and speed of processing. With regards to conscious effort, these approaches are rather similar to the way in which we process conventionalized and non-conventionalized metaphors. Conventional metaphors are processed more quickly and easily than non-conventional ones. Hence, the claim that all metaphors are similarly processed may not always be true. Furthermore, an individual’s level of proficiency presumably correlates with speed in language processing. However, if non-conventional metaphor requires a more deliberate path of processing, this thesis assumes that the processing of this type of metaphor will be relatively unaffected by proficiency level, thus causing informants to process them in similar manners. In this thesis, 24 non-native speakers (NNS), categorized into intermediate proficient and advanced proficient, and seven native speakers (NS) were tested with an RT-test on subjective metaphor comprehension. Results were compared using mean response times and standard deviations, as well as looking at correlations and coefficient of variation. The results showed a distinct difference in processing speed with conventional metaphors being processed significantly faster. Moreover, the findings indicate that conventional metaphor processing speed seems to be predicted by proficiency, whilst non-conventional processing speed is not. The RT differences remained relatively consistent in both conventional and non-conventional metaphor processing, but when taking correlations, variance and coefficient of variation into consideration, the findings indicate that these other factors help level out the differences in non-conventional metaphor processing in more subtle ways than simply by RT’s.

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This literature review sets out to revisit the studies exploring impact of rater characteristics on language oral assessments. Three categories of raters' backgrounds: occupation, accent familiarity, and native language are identified and will be addressed respectively in the following sections. The results showed that no consensus regarding raters' occupational background, linguistic background and native-speaker status on examiners' rating has been found so far. However, this review will highlight the current testing situations, bring up limitations from previous studies, provide implications for both teachers and raters, and hopefully shed light on future research. / text

The diploma thesis Czech Language of Native Speakers of Russian is a study which analyses the use of the Czech language by few non-native speakers whose native language is Russian. The first theoretical section constists of introduction to the most important theories in the field of language acquisition and selected types of analyses which will be used in my own research. The second part contains specification of my goals, approaches and the description of used materials. Third, there are language biographies of my speakers and analysis of several texts (or transcripts of oral recordings) with the emphasis on the influence of speaker's L1. The analysis of data is the accuracy, complexity and fluency measuring that should test qualities of speaker's language use from various points of view. The conclusion summarizes the results of the research and verification of my hypothesis. Key words: non-native speaker, Russian, Czech as foreign language, language error, fluency, accuracy, complexity

This thesis explores the experiences of Japanese native speaker teachers teaching Japanese in New Zealand. The main purpose of this study is to analyse and understand their experiences, to evaluate the extent to which their experiences endorse previous research in the area, and to identify aspects of their experiences that may be universal to immigrant teachers in general or specific to Japanese immigrant teachers in the New Zealand context. This study therefore adopts a qualitative research approach. Findings emerge mainly from the analysis of interviews with twenty-five Japanese native speaker teachers and are supplemented by fifty-two written survey responses. Major themes include ways that the teachers’ backgrounds influenced their career development decision-making process; differences that teachers expected and found in teaching in New Zealand; difficulties that teachers encountered in New Zealand schools; adjustments that teachers made to fit into teaching in New Zealand; adaptation strategies that they adopted to work effectively in the New Zealand cultural environment; and the teachers’ perceptions of working well as Japanese language teachers in New Zealand. The main findings reveal that the teachers confronted difficulties and challenges similar to those of all beginning teachers, but in their case, specific values they held enabled them to develop useful teaching strategies peculiar to them and make successful adaptations to the New Zealand teaching environment. This successful outcome was influenced by their additional learning experience of having gone through the complexity in teacher development as immigrants. Previous research demonstrated that teachers’ experiences and their values influenced curriculum making, the teaching process and classroom organisation. My research extended these findings by describing more specifically the values and strategies that my participant teachers adopted to teach New Zealand students. In addition to the suggestions made for other teachers, several recommendations are made for future research. This study concluded that immigrant teachers need to continue their learning, utilise skills previously acquired in their own countries, and participate in the new society to make successful adaptation.

La notion d’insécurité linguistique a été régulièrement explorée depuis les années 1960: les recherches ont été initialement centrées autour des questions de prononciation dans différents milieux sociaux ; ensuite un cadre d’analyse a été organisé autour des communautés francophones dites « périphériques » ; elle a enfin été abordée dans des contextes plurilingues. La présente recherche examine la notion d’insécurité linguistique comme elle est vécue par les professeurs non natifs de langues étrangères, et notamment des professeurs grecs de français. Ce groupe socioprofessionnel joue un rôle de premier plan dans la diffusion des langues : l’enjeu est de trouver des moyens d’atténuer les éventuels effets négatifs de l’insécurité linguistique inhérents à leur contexte professionnel. Pour ce faire, nous avons construit un corpus pour une étude qualitative. La méthodologie retenue a été celle d’entretiens individuels, semi dirigés, permettant à des répondants présentant des profils divers en termes d’âge, de sexe, de formation, de lieux et de contextes professionnels, de s’exprimer sur leur conception de l’insécurité linguistique et sur les stratégies mobilisées pour y faire face. De manière assez constante, émerge la question de la légitimité d’enseigner une langue dont on n’est pas locuteur natif et les difficultés que cela pose dans le contexte professionnel. Pourtant, au terme d’un processus plus ou moins long, ces personnes parviennent, en redéfinissant leur rôle dans la classe et parfois leurs objectifs en tant qu’enseignants, à gagner en assurance. Elles reconstruisent une légitimité qui articule acceptation, remédiation des imperfections et compétence professionnelle. / The concept of linguistic insecurity has been regularly explored since the 1960’s : research was initially centered around the questions of pronunciation in various social environments; then a framework of analysis was organized around French-speaking communities known as “peripheral”; it was finally approached in multilingual contexts. This research examines the notion of linguistic insecurity as it is experienced by non-native foreign languages teachers, and in particular Greek teachers of French. This socio-professional group plays a leading role in the diffusion of the languages : the stake is to find the means to moderate the possible negative effects of linguistic insecurity inherent in their professional context. With this intention, a corpus for a qualitative study has been assembled. The methodology selected was that of individual, semi-structured interviews, allowing interviewees of various profiles in terms of age, sex, training, professional places and contexts to express themselves on their conception of the linguistic insecurity and the strategies mobilized to face it. In a rather constant way emerges the question of legitimacy to teach a language of which one is not a native speaker and the difficulties that this poses in the professional context. However, at the end of a more or less long process, these people arrive, by redefining their role in the class and sometimes their objectives as teachers, to gain in confidence. They rebuild a legitimacy which articulates acceptance, remediation of the imperfections and professional competence.

The aim of the thesis is to find out whether providing feedback to Arabic language learners will help them improve their pronunciation, particularly of words involving sounds that are not distinguished in their native languages. In addition, it aims to find out, if possible, what type of feedback will be most helpful. In order to achieve this aim, we developed a computational tool with a number of component sub tools. These tools involve the implementation of several substantial pieces of software. The first task was to ensure the system we were building could distinguish between the more challenging sounds when they were produced by a native speaker, since without that it will not be possible to classify learners’ attempts at these sounds. To this end, a number of experiments were carried out with the hidden Markov model toolkit (the HTK), a well known speech recognition toolkit, in order to ensure that it can distinguish between the confusable sounds, i.e. the ones that people have difficulty with. The developed computational tool analyses the differences between the user’s pronunciation and that of a native speaker by using grammar of minimal pairs, where each utterance is treated as coming from a family of similar words. This provides the ability to categorise learners’ errors - if someone is trying to say cat and the recogniser thinks they have said cad then it is likely that they are voicing the final consonant when it should be unvoiced. Extensive testing shows that the system can reliably distinguish such minimal pairs when they are produced by a native speaker, and that this approach does provide effective diagnostic information about errors. The tool provides feedback in three different sub-tools: as an animation of the vocal tract, as a synthesised version of the target utterance, and as a set of written instructions. The tool was evaluated by placing it in a classroom setting and asking 50 Arabic students to use the different versions of the tool. Each student had a thirty minute session with the tool, working their way through a set of pronunciation exercises at their own pace. The results of this group showed that their pronunciation does improve over the course of the session, though it was not possible to determine whether the improvement is sustained over an extended period. The evaluation was done from three points of view: quantitative analysis, qualitative analysis, and using a questionnaire. Firstly, the quantitative analysis gives raw numbers telling whether a learner had improved their pronunciation or not. Secondly, the qualitative analysis shows a behaviour pattern of what a learner did and how they used the tool. Thirdly, the questionnaire gives feedback from learners and their comments about the tool. We found that providing feedback does appear to help Arabic language learners, but we did not have enough data to see which form of feedback is most helpful. However, we provided an informative analysis of behaviour patterns to see how Arabic students used the tool and interacted with it, which could be useful for more data analysis.

This paper investigates foreign born teachers working as EFL educators and their attitudes towards teaching as well as their roles in teaching the English language. The purpose of this study is to examine what motivates EFL teachers to work abroad and to explore why they are highly valued in non-English speaking countries. Through qualitative interviews with four (4) Filipino teachers working overseas as EFL educators their strengths and weaknesses are explored. My investigation shows that the Filipino teachers’ primary role is to teach communication and literacy skills. In addition, the reasons why these four teachers have chosen to work abroad are higher salary rates and better working conditions. However, their lack of knowledge of the local language and culture are their weaknesses. Finally, findings show that the respondents’ positive attitude towards teaching English abroad shows the importance of English in globalization.