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.

My thesis deals with the status of German language standard and is based on research in the internet discussion sites (internet forums), that deal with the topic of language. The internet forums that I've chosen offer help in learning a foreign language, in our case German. The help is provided either by proofreading or by answering the specific questions. This thesis is based on Ulrich Ammon's model of four social forces and the theory of language management. Next to the instances, which according to Ammon determine the standard, I included the participants of discussion, who decide what is standard too and thereby affect those for whom isn't German the native language. The analysis will be carried out on the basis of the proofreading of model texts. With the help of the language management theory I will discuss with the proofreader in the comments their selected (or not selected) option. The aim of my work is to observe the behavior of normative authority in relation to the codified norm, whether they know and follow it. Furthermore, I am interested in the social background and language abilities of the participants, which I'll find out by using the questionnaires.

Este trabalho tem como principal objetivo analisar as representações do falante nativo e do falante não-nativo de inglês construídas sob o ponto de vista do aluno brasileiro, e as implicações dessas representações no processo de constituição da identidade desse aluno, que tem o português como primeira língua e aprende inglês como língua estrangeira. Nossa hipótese é que a diferença significativa que se observa na relação entre o aluno brasileiro e falantes nativos, de um lado, e entre o mesmo aluno e falantes não-nativos, de outro, afeta as representações construídas pelo aprendiz, podendo resultar numa tentativa de resistência ao lugar aparentemente fixo ocupado pelo brasileiro enquanto falante não-nativo de inglês. A análise dessas representações baseia-se num corpus constituído por dez entrevistas com alunos brasileiros de inglês de uma escola de idiomas de São Paulo. Nossa pesquisa é embasada nos preceitos teóricos da Análise do Discurso, assim como em conceitos dos Estudos Culturais e da perspectiva psicanalista. Com base na análise da materialidade lingüística do corpus, destacamos representações sustentadas por oposições binárias que, se por um lado, parecem imobilizar o sujeito-aluno na relação com o falante nativo, pelo fato de o aluno brasileiro ser sempre representado como o polo negativo da oposição, por outro, permitem, na relação com o falante não-nativo, vislumbrar a possibilidade de um deslocamento dessas representações associadas ao aprendiz brasileiro. Porém, observamos que esse deslocamento é sempre adiado e não se concretiza devido à força que o falante nativo ainda exerce sobre o aluno brasileiro/falante não-nativo. Concluímos que essas representações fixistas, baseadas em oposições binárias, dificultam a prática de ensino de língua inglesa como um lugar de produção de novos sentidos. Com base nessa conclusão, ressaltamos a importância de uma prática pedagógica que vá além do ensino de inglês como mero instrumento de comunicação, permitindo desconstruir as oposições binárias e contribuir para uma ressignificação do lugar do aprendiz brasileiro/falante não-nativo de inglês em relação ao falante nativo e à língua inglesa. / This work aims at analyzing the representations of native and non-native speakers of English built by Brazilian students, and the implications of these representations to students identity as Portuguese native speakers and learners of English as a foreign language. Our hypothesis is that the significative difference noticed in the relationship between Brazilian students and native speakers of English, on the one hand, and between these students and other non-native speakers, on the other, affects the way Brazilian students represent themselves and other speakers, and may result in an attempt to resist the apparently fixed place occupied by Brazilians as non-native speakers of English. The analysis of these representations is based on a corpus containing ten interviews with Brazilian students of English from a language school in São Paulo. Our work is based upon the theoretical tenets of Discourse Analysis, as well as on concepts from the Cultural Studies and Psychoanalysis. The analysis of the linguistic materiality of the corpus showed representations that were sustained by binary oppositions, which seemed to immobilize the learners in the interaction with native speakers, since the Brazilian student is always represented as the negative pole of the opposition, but also suggested the possibility of dislocation of these representations when the interaction involved Brazilian students and other non-native speakers of English. However, it is argued that this dislocation is always postponed and never takes place because of the power that the native speaker has over the Brazilian student/non-native speaker of English. We concluded that these fixed representations, based on binary oppositions, make it difficult for the English language teaching practice to allow for the production of new meanings. Based on this conclusion, we highlight the importance of a pedagogical practice that goes beyond teaching English merely as a communication tool, by deconstructing binary oppositions and making it possible for the Brazilian student/non-native speaker of English to occupy a new place in the relationship with the native speaker and the English language.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-28T18:23:27Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Claudia Sousa Fernandes.pdf: 623395 bytes, checksum: acb1a54152507a3f1b940aa3646c95f2 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006-12-01 / This study aims at investigating the representations of four teachers of English from a language institute in the outskirts of São Paulo towards the English language, as well as the implications of those representations to the construction of their professional identities. The theoretical framework of this research is based on the identity concept (Moita Lopes, 2002; Rajagopalan, 1998; Signorini, 2002; among others), the representation concept (Moscovici, 2000; Freire e Lessa, 2003; Celani e Magalhães, 2002), the discussion about the native speaker (Braine, 1999; Phillipson, 1992; Widdowson, 1994; Kramsh, 1997; Rajagopalan, 2005) and the role of teacher in the major teaching and learning theories (Bruner, 1996/ 2001; Mizukami, 1986; Williams e Burden, 1997; Vygotsky 1934/ 2003; Milhollan e Forisha, 1978). The data were analyzed according to the concept of thematic content proposed by Bronckart (2003) based on the lexical choices made by the participants in order to answer the following research questions: What s the representation of the teachers in relation to the English language? What s the representation of the teachers about themselves as English language speakers? How do these representations influence the constructing of their identities? Results indicate how the analyzed representations contribute to the construction of the identities of the participants as speakers of English / Este estudo tem por objetivo investigar as representações de quatro professores de inglês de um instituto de idiomas da periferia de São Paulo sobre a língua inglesa, verificando qual ou quais as implicações dessas representações em relação à construção de suas identidades profissionais. Os pressupostos teóricos que fundamentam esta pesquisa são: o conceito de identidade (Moita Lopes, 2002; Rajagopalan, 1998; Signorini, 2002; entre outros), o conceito de representação (Moscovici, 2000; Freire e Lessa, 2003; Celani e Magalhães, 2002) a questão do falante nativo (Braine, 1999; Phillipson, 1992; Widdowson, 1994; Kramsh, 1997; Rajagopalan, 2005) e o papel do professor nas principais teorias de ensino-aprendizagem (Bruner, 1996/ 2001; Mizukami,1986; Williams e Burden, 1997; Vygotsky, 1934/ 2003; Milhollan e Forisha, 1978). Para a análise e interpretação dos dados foi utilizado o conceito de conteúdo temático de Bronckart (2003), com base nas escolhas lexicais dos participantes focais desta pesquisa apresentados no início deste resumo com o objetivo de responder a três perguntas de pesquisa: Qual a representação que os professores têm a respeito da língua inglesa? Qual a representação dos professores a respeito de si mesmos como falantes da língua inglesa? Como essas representações dos professores de inglês influenciam na construção de suas identidades? As representações analisadas indicam como são construídas as identidades dos professores participantes enquanto falantes da língua inglesa

The diploma thesis concentrates on characteristics of cooperation between czech and english speaking teachers in bilingual classes. The aim of this thesis is to explore the cooperation at elementary school and to find out the advantages and disadvantages of the collaboration between the two. The theoretical part of this work is based on the literature and it summarizes the main characteristic of this problém. The practical part is an outcome of the qualitative research. Case study focuses on detailed describtion of the bilingual programme backround gained by the author's personal experience. The choosen methods of the reaserch are intviews with bilingual programme teachers and observations of a native speaking teacher. The outcome of the thesis is analysis of data gained from the intrview and observing. On the based of the action research the thesis states the recommendations to rise the efectivity of the bilingual teacher's collaboration. KEYWORDS Bilingaulism, native speaker, cooperation between teachers, primary teacher, bilingual education, qualitative research

Este trabalho tem como principal objetivo analisar as representações do falante nativo e do falante não-nativo de inglês construídas sob o ponto de vista do aluno brasileiro, e as implicações dessas representações no processo de constituição da identidade desse aluno, que tem o português como primeira língua e aprende inglês como língua estrangeira. Nossa hipótese é que a diferença significativa que se observa na relação entre o aluno brasileiro e falantes nativos, de um lado, e entre o mesmo aluno e falantes não-nativos, de outro, afeta as representações construídas pelo aprendiz, podendo resultar numa tentativa de resistência ao lugar aparentemente fixo ocupado pelo brasileiro enquanto falante não-nativo de inglês. A análise dessas representações baseia-se num corpus constituído por dez entrevistas com alunos brasileiros de inglês de uma escola de idiomas de São Paulo. Nossa pesquisa é embasada nos preceitos teóricos da Análise do Discurso, assim como em conceitos dos Estudos Culturais e da perspectiva psicanalista. Com base na análise da materialidade lingüística do corpus, destacamos representações sustentadas por oposições binárias que, se por um lado, parecem imobilizar o sujeito-aluno na relação com o falante nativo, pelo fato de o aluno brasileiro ser sempre representado como o polo negativo da oposição, por outro, permitem, na relação com o falante não-nativo, vislumbrar a possibilidade de um deslocamento dessas representações associadas ao aprendiz brasileiro. Porém, observamos que esse deslocamento é sempre adiado e não se concretiza devido à força que o falante nativo ainda exerce sobre o aluno brasileiro/falante não-nativo. Concluímos que essas representações fixistas, baseadas em oposições binárias, dificultam a prática de ensino de língua inglesa como um lugar de produção de novos sentidos. Com base nessa conclusão, ressaltamos a importância de uma prática pedagógica que vá além do ensino de inglês como mero instrumento de comunicação, permitindo desconstruir as oposições binárias e contribuir para uma ressignificação do lugar do aprendiz brasileiro/falante não-nativo de inglês em relação ao falante nativo e à língua inglesa. / This work aims at analyzing the representations of native and non-native speakers of English built by Brazilian students, and the implications of these representations to students identity as Portuguese native speakers and learners of English as a foreign language. Our hypothesis is that the significative difference noticed in the relationship between Brazilian students and native speakers of English, on the one hand, and between these students and other non-native speakers, on the other, affects the way Brazilian students represent themselves and other speakers, and may result in an attempt to resist the apparently fixed place occupied by Brazilians as non-native speakers of English. The analysis of these representations is based on a corpus containing ten interviews with Brazilian students of English from a language school in São Paulo. Our work is based upon the theoretical tenets of Discourse Analysis, as well as on concepts from the Cultural Studies and Psychoanalysis. The analysis of the linguistic materiality of the corpus showed representations that were sustained by binary oppositions, which seemed to immobilize the learners in the interaction with native speakers, since the Brazilian student is always represented as the negative pole of the opposition, but also suggested the possibility of dislocation of these representations when the interaction involved Brazilian students and other non-native speakers of English. However, it is argued that this dislocation is always postponed and never takes place because of the power that the native speaker has over the Brazilian student/non-native speaker of English. We concluded that these fixed representations, based on binary oppositions, make it difficult for the English language teaching practice to allow for the production of new meanings. Based on this conclusion, we highlight the importance of a pedagogical practice that goes beyond teaching English merely as a communication tool, by deconstructing binary oppositions and making it possible for the Brazilian student/non-native speaker of English to occupy a new place in the relationship with the native speaker and the English language.