In a world that is becoming more cosmopolitan, pedagogical approaches, particularly those that focus on diversity of cultures, have become paramount. As a result, this study attempts to gain insight into what pedagogical approaches K-3 teachers in Sweden use during their English lessons, and whether these approaches are more native speaker or interculturally focused and why that is. Initially, this degree project presents an overview of previous research made on the Native Speaker norm approach and the Intercultural approach. The findings show that the Native Speaker norm approach is more commonly used than the Intercultural approach. However, as English is a language used worldwide, the teaching of it should include content relatable to non-native speakers as well. Nevertheless, the Intercultural approach is relatively new and teachers still need the training and the tools to implement it. This paper builds on the content from interviews of three K-3 teachers and one assisting principal in different parts of Sweden. The main conclusions of this study are that (I) the teachers predominantly use a Native Speaker norm approach due to tradition; (II) the teachers lack training and knowledge of how to implement an Intercultural approach and, consequently, they do not know how to use it; (III) the teaching materials provided by the schools have an impact on what approach the teachers use; (IV) the teachers’ English teaching leaves their pupils struggling in coming to terms with their own identity in a global context, as well as appreciating norms and English varieties other than that of Standard English.

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Building upon current research in native-speaker (NS) perception of L2 learner phonology (Zielinski, 2008; Derwing & Munro, 2009), the present investigation analyzed multiple dimensions of NS speech perception in order to achieve a more complete understanding of the specific linguistic elements and attitudinal variables that contribute to perceptions of accent in learner speech. In this mixed-methods study, Spanish monolinguals (n = 18) provided information regarding their views of L1 American English (AE) speakers learning Spanish and also evaluated the extemporaneous production of L2 learners from this same population. The evaluators' preconceived attitudinal notions of L1 AE speakers learning Spanish negatively correlated with numerical accentedness ratings for the speech samples, indicating that evaluators with more positive perceptions of the learners rated their speech as less accented. Following initial numerical ratings, evaluators provided detailed commentary on the individual phonological elements from each utterance that they perceived as "nonnative." Results show that differences in the relative salience of the nonnative segmental productions correspond with certain phonetic and phonemic processes occurring within the sounds, such as aspiration, spirantization and lateralization. / Spanish

Submitted by Maicon Juliano Schmidt (maicons) on 2015-07-20T16:20:09Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Cléia Maria Lima Azevedo.pdf: 1478132 bytes, checksum: 28c725270a83fedf373ac6e4a206f039 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-07-20T16:20:09Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Cléia Maria Lima Azevedo.pdf: 1478132 bytes, checksum: 28c725270a83fedf373ac6e4a206f039 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-04-20 / UEMA - Universidade Estadual do Maranhão / Esta pesquisa possibilita uma reflexão sobre formação e atuação profissional, a partir das vozes das professoras alfabetizadoras, usuárias da língua materna, com conhecimento específico e particularidades próprias do trabalho pedagógico. Nesta perspectiva, coloca-se o objetivo de analisar concepções sobre práticas alfabetizadoras dessas egressas do curso de Pedagogia, tendo em vista suas concepções de leitura e escrita e suas vivências como produtoras e usuárias da língua materna, considerando também o processo de formação docente. Neste cenário, busca-se compreender o jogo social entre o que tem influenciado teoricamente e produzido a sua prática pedagógica de alfabetizadoras. Participam do estudo cinco professoras alfabetizadoras, em exercício de sua docência no ciclo de alfabetização, e duas professoras formadoras, pertencentes ao grupo de coordenadores do PNAIC da Secretaria de Educação do município, todas egressas do curso de Pedagogia de uma universidade estadual da região Nordeste do Brasil. O estudo é de cunho qualitativo, tendo como ponto de partida as entrevistas com as docentes envolvidas na pesquisa, além da sistematização de encontros de grupo dialogal que versavam sobre leitura, escrita, alfabetização e formação docente. Os alicerces teóricos da investigação apoiam-se em Bakhtin (2003, 2006), Faraco (2009, 2010, 2012), Kleiman (2004, 2005, 2007), Morato (2004) Soares (2005, 2010, 2013), Rego (1995), Vygotsky (1996, 1998), dentre outros. Entre as constatações do estudo destaca-se que língua, linguagem, alfabetização e letramento são conceitos produzidos na forma particular como as alfabetizadoras interagem com o fazer docente, considerando suas vivências como usuárias de língua materna constituída no curso de suas histórias de escolarização. Neste percurso, concebem a língua como objeto e meio para alcançar o conhecimento. / This survey provides a reflection on training and professional practice, from the voices of literacy teachers, users of the mother tongue, with specific knowledge and particularities of pedagogical work. In this perspective, place to analyze conceptions of literacy teachers practices of these graduates of the Faculty of Education with a view to their conceptions of reading and writing and their experiences as producers and users of the mother tongue, also considering the teacher training process. In this scenario, we are trying to understand the social game between what has influenced theory and produced their practice of literacy teachers. Participate in the study five literacy teachers, exercising their teaching in the literacy cycle, and two forming teachers, belonging to PNAIC, coordinators group of municipality's Department of Education, all graduates of the Faculty of Education of a state university in the northeast of Brazil. The study is a qualitative approach, taking as starting point the interviews the teachers involved in research, in addition to the systematization of dialogical group meetings that focused on reading, writing, literacy and teacher training. The theoretical foundations of research support in Bakhtin (2003, 2006), Faraco (2009, 2010, 2012), Kleiman (2004, 2005, 2007), Morato (2004) Soares (2005, 2010, 2013), Rego (1995 ), Vygotsky (1996, 1998), among others. Among the study's findings highlight the language, language, literacy and literacy concepts are produced in particular how literacy teachers interact with the teacher do, considering her experiences as a mother tongue of users made in the course of their schooling stories. In this course, conceive of language as an object and means to knowledge.

This dissertation explores learner beliefs about pronunciation and their interaction with identity negotiations in a study-abroad context. Current research on studying abroad has experienced a wave of interest in learner-centered questions, gradually moving away from the narrow focus on students’ linguistic development. In particular, the effects of study abroad on learner identities have attracted attention, revealing the impact of the dispositions of individuals, as well as of interlocutors, on the language learning process. The realm of speaking, especially with regard to pronunciation research, however, has hardly benefited from this interest in the individual perspectives of sojourners. Existing studies merely measure the extent to which learners appropriate native-like accents, resulting in partly inconsistent findings with limited insight into individual learning processes and factors. I thus adopt a different focus by qualitatively investigating the interplay between sojourners’ beliefs about pronunciation and their identity constructions and negotiations. My research is based on five case studies of Canadian learners of German. Each research subject has attended a German university for one or two semesters. In applying narrative inquiry as a research tool for both the within- and cross-case analyses, I investigate participants’ accounts in interviews and e-journals, as conducted at different stages throughout the first sojourn term. Poststructuralist-constructivist conceptualizations of learner identities and beliefs guide the data analysis and interpretation. The results of the holistic and categorical content analyses give insight into the intricate relationship between beliefs about pronunciation and learners’ identity work. In their narratives, learners appear to actively use pronunciation as a tool to construct identity facets in correspondence to specific communities of practice, giving meaning to their investment in the sojourn experience. This process of mediating between different identity constructions appears to be highly complex and partially conflict-laden. The participants’ beliefs and reported learning behaviours are interconnected with their definitions of learning goals, which draw on native-speaker ideals to different extents and with varying results. These orientations are in turn related to the subjects’ degrees of critical language awareness, the latter a factor that appears to play a vital role in shaping the ability of learners to take advantage of learning opportunities. In assessing participants’ learning objectives and their readiness to reflect upon their beliefs and orientations, my study also sheds light on the influence of different learning factor constellations on intercultural learning. The results indicate that unidirectional cause-and-effect relationships cannot be drawn between learners’ beliefs about pronunciation and their abilities to approach their roles as intercultural speakers in sojourn environments. My study rather underlines the importance of illuminating individual learning experiences in their idiosyncrasies and complexities, which may lead to a stronger consideration of learners’ subjective stances in both research and teaching practice. The findings of my study suggest that the primary way that language pedagogy can thus foster the ability to engage in intercultural encounters is by helping learners to become aware of their subjective stances, their self-constructions, and the influence of those on the learning process. Therefore, developing the ability and willingness to critically reflect is crucial, especially with regard to pronunciation. In illuminating the intricate nature of learner beliefs and their influence on the learning process, my study demonstrates the importance of qualitative, emic research into the acquisition of L2 pronunciation.

This dissertation explores learner beliefs about pronunciation and their interaction with identity negotiations in a study-abroad context. Current research on studying abroad has experienced a wave of interest in learner-centered questions, gradually moving away from the narrow focus on students’ linguistic development. In particular, the effects of study abroad on learner identities have attracted attention, revealing the impact of the dispositions of individuals, as well as of interlocutors, on the language learning process. The realm of speaking, especially with regard to pronunciation research, however, has hardly benefited from this interest in the individual perspectives of sojourners. Existing studies merely measure the extent to which learners appropriate native-like accents, resulting in partly inconsistent findings with limited insight into individual learning processes and factors. I thus adopt a different focus by qualitatively investigating the interplay between sojourners’ beliefs about pronunciation and their identity constructions and negotiations. My research is based on five case studies of Canadian learners of German. Each research subject has attended a German university for one or two semesters. In applying narrative inquiry as a research tool for both the within- and cross-case analyses, I investigate participants’ accounts in interviews and e-journals, as conducted at different stages throughout the first sojourn term. Poststructuralist-constructivist conceptualizations of learner identities and beliefs guide the data analysis and interpretation. The results of the holistic and categorical content analyses give insight into the intricate relationship between beliefs about pronunciation and learners’ identity work. In their narratives, learners appear to actively use pronunciation as a tool to construct identity facets in correspondence to specific communities of practice, giving meaning to their investment in the sojourn experience. This process of mediating between different identity constructions appears to be highly complex and partially conflict-laden. The participants’ beliefs and reported learning behaviours are interconnected with their definitions of learning goals, which draw on native-speaker ideals to different extents and with varying results. These orientations are in turn related to the subjects’ degrees of critical language awareness, the latter a factor that appears to play a vital role in shaping the ability of learners to take advantage of learning opportunities. In assessing participants’ learning objectives and their readiness to reflect upon their beliefs and orientations, my study also sheds light on the influence of different learning factor constellations on intercultural learning. The results indicate that unidirectional cause-and-effect relationships cannot be drawn between learners’ beliefs about pronunciation and their abilities to approach their roles as intercultural speakers in sojourn environments. My study rather underlines the importance of illuminating individual learning experiences in their idiosyncrasies and complexities, which may lead to a stronger consideration of learners’ subjective stances in both research and teaching practice. The findings of my study suggest that the primary way that language pedagogy can thus foster the ability to engage in intercultural encounters is by helping learners to become aware of their subjective stances, their self-constructions, and the influence of those on the learning process. Therefore, developing the ability and willingness to critically reflect is crucial, especially with regard to pronunciation. In illuminating the intricate nature of learner beliefs and their influence on the learning process, my study demonstrates the importance of qualitative, emic research into the acquisition of L2 pronunciation.

Zugl.: Köln, Univ., Diss., 2009

This research seeks to develop further understandings of effectiveness of the  Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET)  Programme. The JET programme is an internationalisation programme of which employs primarily native English language speakers into the role of Assistant Language Teachers of whom aid in teaching English within school settings across Japan. Inspiration to undertake the project arose through an observation that previous research into the JET programme displays an overwhelmingly negative perspective of the programme’s effectiveness, not least due to the consistent reduction in Japan’s perceived foreign language attainment rates in recent years. This study seeks to develop a new angle of understanding regarding the JET programme, namely through analysing its Assistant Language Teacher’s and Japanese Teachers of English’s perceptions of their own experiences within the programme, and what they each determine effectiveness to be within their own roles. These perceptions were elicited through joint interviews with pairs of Assistant Language Teachers and Japanese Teachers of English of whom work or worked together. Four interviews took place harbouring two participants in each, totalling eight participants. Through utilisation of thematic and multimodal analytical methodologies in tandem, participant pairs’ individual and collaboratively created perspectives were attained. Results displayed the importance of individual relationships towards effectiveness within participants’ working lives. Effectiveness was primarily displayed through empathetic understanding and supporting one another, alongside actions of which allowed participants to challenge the JET programme together and empower their own relationships in the process. Further, theoretical frameworks of language teacher effectiveness are utilised and display intriguing results pertaining to how participants fulfil their working roles, and how these roles act in empowering potentially problematic norms of what a native speaker is.

Treating Sandra Cisneros' The House on Mango Street and Chang-rae Lee's Native Speaker as Erziehungsroman—that is, stories whose coming-of-age process depends on the characters' education—reveals the similar process that both Esperanza Cordero and Henry Park experience as they navigate the 1960s and 1970s American school system. The most important obstacle in Esperanza's and Henry's ability to achieve academically is the contract of vagueness, the tacit agreement between federal education policy and English language learning (ELL) students to misunderstand one another. Differing cultural conceptions of education perpetuate this mutually detrimental relationship between education policy and ELL students, forcing Henry and Esperanza to choose between satisfying the cultural expectations of their ethnic communities and fulfilling the cultural expectations of their schools, a decision which initially appears mutually exclusive. Exacerbated by their school experiences, both Henry and Esperanza go through a process of rejecting and reclaiming their ethnicity as they come to terms with their ethnic identity. That both characters eventually turn to social advocacy as a solution not only to their own educational struggles but also to the ghettoization of their ethnic communities suggests cosmopolitanism as a solution to the constraints of the contract of vagueness, both for Henry and Esperanza and for their ethnic communities.