Taking a social constructionist perspective, this dissertation explores politeness-as-practice (Eelen, 2001) of L2 English speakers in intercultural communication encounters. The study is situated within the English as an International Language (EIL) paradigm which suggests that pragmatic norms in interaction between EIL speakers are dynamic and flexible, and therefore, instead of measuring EIL speakers' success in interaction against a "native-speaker" norm, the research should focus on how speakers themselves define and (co-)construct pragmatic norms and successful interaction (e.g., House, 2003a; McKay, 2009). The view of politeness taken in this study is based on postmodern approaches to politeness, which submit that politeness is dynamic and that the politeness meanings of particular strategies, utterances, and linguistic forms are assigned to them by participants within an interaction. Data were collected through background questionnaires, written questionnaires in the form of critical incidents, and semi-structured informal interviews. The data were analyzed qualitatively, relying primarily on discourse analysis complemented by the theories of "third place", facework, and politeness. The results of this study offer insights into the nature of pragmatic competence in EIL, the processes of the development of such competence, and challenges that L2 English speakers face in this process. Specifically, this study investigates how L2 speakers of English conceptualize politeness, the hybrid and dynamic nature of their pragmatic competence in general and politeness-in-practice in particular, and the interrelationship between politeness and other factors that determine the speakers' pragmatic choices in situations that have potential for misunderstanding, conflict, and face loss. This dissertation contributes to the theory and research in the fields of Second Language Acquisition (SLA), EIL, Intercultural Communication, Interlanguage Pragmatics and Politeness by providing insights into the pragmatic competence and politeness of L2 English speakers. This work deepens the body of scholarship in these fields in that it provides the speakers' own perspectives on the processes of their pragmatic competence development and their concepts of politeness. It is also hoped that insights provided by this study will benefit English language teachers who aim to develop intercultural communicative competence in their classrooms.

In the last few decades, Internet mediated intercultural competence has received a great attention in the field of applied linguistics and foreign language (FL) education especially with the evolution of web 2.0 technologies and social networking sites that facilitate interaction and communication between different cultural communities and individuals. Research in the field of Online Intercultural Exchange (OIE) is extremely varied and researchers have focused their attention on various aspects of OIE such as promoting intercultural communicative competence (Belz, 2002; O'Dowd, 2003; Schenker, 2011; Muller Hartman, 2000), facilitating online relationship building (Ware, 2005; Thorne, 2003, Jin & Erben, 2007) and improving writing skills (Ware, 2005; O'Dowd, 2003), developing pragmatic competence (Kinginger & Belz, 2005). Despite the plethora of research in this area, gaps in the literature still exist. First, literature lacks studies on language learners of less commonly taught languages (e.g. Arabic), (Thorne, 2006) and more importantly most of the studies are based on western contexts mainly in Europe and the USA. Second, few studies have explored the potentials of social networking sites on OIE projects in promoting intercultural learning (Aoki, 2009; Jin, 2015). In an effort to fill the gaps in the research, this study links English language learners (Saudis) with Arabic language learners (Americans) to investigate to what extent OIE on Facebook between these two groups of learners contributes to their intercultural communicative competence (ICC), specifically, exploring how and what are the components of Byram's model (ICC) manifested in the OIE project. Furthermore, it examined the affordances of Facebook in the OIE project according to students' use, practice and perception. Informed by a sociocultural framework, this study took a constructivist mixed methods approach to analysis of data from learners' online discourse on Facebook, the researcher's journal and observations, pre-survey, semi-structured interviews, and a questionnaire. Data analysis and interpretation revealed that when students' participation were mutually compatible, the students were able to build meaningful relationships, used a range of various questioning techniques, and engaged in genuine dialogue, OIE has a great potential for developing students' intercultural competence, as many objectives of Byram's ICC model were manifested. Findings also revealed that the project has strengthened Saudi students' cultural identity as they found the space to present their culture and country beyond the stereotypical image that dominates the media. As with regard to Facebook affordances, findings showed that the semiotic design and various semiotic resources of Facebook (e.g. multimodal posts, sharing, notification, friending, semi-automated features, etc.) afford students' engagement in intercultural discussion, students' collaboration, and students' interpersonal relationship building. The study also identified some of Facebook's constraints that limited students' participation due to technological, cultural and social factors. In sum this study illuminates the nature of online intercultural communication between Arabic and English language learners, contributing to the scarce research on this population. It also uncovers the unique affordances as well as constraints of Facebook on an OIE project. Based on this study, several pedagogical implications and suggestions are made for future research in the field of online intercultural exchanges.

The purpose of this study is to explore the different experiences and perceptions that second language learners in the Swedish upper secondary school have of the Swedish langague and swedish as a second language. The purpose is also to examine differences and relations between second language learners´ attitudes and some background factors that may influence their attitudes. The study is based on a survey containing two parts: the first concerning background factors of the respondents and the second part consisting of statements combined with a likert scale. The survey was given to students studying swedish as a second language in the upper secondary school. The most important result is that the student´s attitudes to swedish and swedish as a second language are affected by the number of years they have lived in Sweden.

The aim of this study is to investigate how students think that sociolinguistic factors such as age, gender, social class, and ethnic identity affect their attitudes and motivation regarding English second language learning in the Swedish upper secondary school. A questionnaire consisting of both qualitative and quantitative questions has been distributed in order to examine students’ attitudes and motivation regarding English second language learning. The data was analysed using a hermeneutic approach. The results show that the influential factors were age, gender and ethnic identity, whereas most of the participants disagreed concerning the influence of one’s social class onlanguage learning. In examining the students’ motivation for English language learning it was found that the majority of the students have a positive attitude due to the status of English as a global language and the possibilities for future employment that a command of English entails. In conclusion, according to the students’ perspectives, sociolinguistic factors do impact on their attitudes and motivation regarding English second language learning at upper secondary school level.    Keywords: Second Language Acquisition, Second Language Learning, Sociolinguistic Factors, Attitude, Motivation

Based on these results, task-readiness is suggested as a theoretical extension to the concept of planning to catch both task-external readiness (different types of planning: rehearsal, strategic planning, and on-line planning) and task-internal readiness (content familiarity, schematic familiarity, and task type familiarity). A general framework of task-readiness is proposed as the basis of theorization of task planning and task familiarity. / Research into task-based language teaching (TBLT) has yielded fruitful results with regards to pre-task and during-task preparation activities, with some consensus being reached in a number of areas. Pre-task planning and task repetition usually give rise to fluency and complexity, whereas on-line planning is likely to help with complexity and accuracy. In general, pre-task planning, task repetition, and on-line planning are all task-external manipulations in which extra preparation time is provided so that learners can focus their attention on improving some performance areas. The present study is an attempt to extend the notion of planning from a task-external to a task-internal perspective. / Results showed that both topic familiarity and strategic planning help learners with more fluent language, but the effect sizes indicate that strategic planning was more powerful in this regard. Topic familiarity pushed learners for slightly more accurate performance with very significant gains in lexical diversity and lexical sophistication. In contrast, planning was associated with significantly higher complexity and lexical density. Proficiency seemed to be concerned with forms rather than meaning expression as higher proficiency participants always scored higher in accuracy and sometimes in complexity, but not so much in fluency or lexis. / The design of the study is empirical and quantitative in nature. The effects of strategic planning (task-external) and topic familiarity (task-internal) on participants with different proficiency levels are explored and compared. Eighty L2 English participants (forty medicine majors and forty computer majors from a major university in Hong Kong) performed different experimental tasks, in which topic familiarity types, planning conditions and proficiency levels constitute a 2 x 2 x 2 design. Topic familiarity was realized by giving each participant a natural virus topic and a computer virus topic. The topic that matched the participant's academic training was regarded as "familiar", and visa versa. There were two types of planning conditions, namely a non-planning (control) group and a ten-minute strategic planning group. Within each planning condition, the participants were further dichotomized into two different proficiency groups by a proficiency test that was administered prior to the tasks. / Bei, Xiaoyue = 探索任務內與任務外預備 : 主題熟悉程度和策略性構想對不同英語水準學習者話題性任務表現的效應研究 / 貝曉越. / Adviser: Peter Skehan. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 72-04, Section: A, page: . / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2010. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 189-206). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest Information and Learning Company, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest Information and Learning Company, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract also in Chinese. / Bei, Xiaoyue = Tan suo ren wu nei yu ren wu wai yu bei : zhu ti shu xi cheng du he ce lüe xing gou xiang dui bu tong Ying yu shui zhun xue xi zhe hua ti xing ren wu biao xian de xiao ying yan jiu / Bei Xiaoyue.

Data-driven learning (DDL), an inductive teaching approach in which students learn through corpus interaction, has gained recent traction as way to teach specialized vocabulary in English for Specific Purposes (ESP) classes. There is little research, however, that addresses how to choose specialized vocabulary for teaching with DDL. This study addressed this gap in research by exploring the potential of a three-part analytical, corpus-based system for determining vocabulary to teach with DDL for a specific context of language use. This system included (1) identifying words that were significantly more frequent in a specialized expert corpus than in a corpus of general English, (2) narrowing to words that showed patterned differences in use between the specialized corpus and a student corpus, and (3) narrowing further to words with salient enough patterns of usage to teach with DDL. This three-part system was applied to the context of civil engineering in order to find vocabulary words to teach civil engineering students with low-proficiency writing skills at Portland State University. For the first step in my analytical system, I found 201 words that occurred significantly more frequently in civil engineering practitioner writing than in the Corpus of Contemporary American English and that met requirements for frequency, distribution, and other criteria. I tested the second and third steps on 45 of these words and identified 14 words that showed evidence of needing to be taught and being well suited to DDL. After reflecting on my process, I found that the analytical system was successful in meeting my goals for finding civil engineering vocabulary for data-driven activities. I also made several observations that may be useful for ESP teachers who are interested in applying this methodology for their classes, the most notable of which were: 1. The system was especially useful for connecting words that are not explicitly civil engineering themed (e.g., encountered or using) to important writing functions that civil engineers perform. 2. Although it provided a systematic basis for vocabulary teaching decisions, the process was generally time-consuming and required complex judgments, which indicated that it may only be worth performing if teachers plan to regularly incorporate DDL vocabulary instruction into their course.

The communicative language approach (CLA) dominates pedagogical practice in second language acquisition classrooms in the US. However, this approach does not emphasize independent pronunciation instruction, leaving learners to improve pronunciation on their own. This study explored the perspectives of English language learners (ELLs) being instructed via the CLA regarding the effectiveness of the CLA in providing intelligible pronunciation skills. The intelligibility principle of language served as the theoretical foundation underlying this study guided by research questions addressing how well the CLA met ELLs' pronunciation intelligibility needs and their perspectives on receiving independent pronunciation instruction to meet these needs. Using qualitative case study methods, the research questions were addressed through an analysis of interviews of 10 community college ELL adult volunteers who received instruction using the CLA as current or former students in the intensive English program, had linguistic skill levels ranging from beginner to advanced, and were graduates of U.S. schools. A typological analysis model was followed where the data were organized by themes, patterns, and identified relationships. Participants reported wanting to improve their pronunciation and that their pronunciation had improved with the CLA instructional strategies. Although all participants desired to receive some independent instruction in pronunciation, their preferred instructional modes differed. It is recommended that ELLs' perspectives be heard and that English as a Second Language educators instruct with the CLA while also providing explicit pronunciation instruction. The results of this study indicating student satisfaction with the CLA may elicit positive social change within the ELL community by providing a voice to ELLs.

This dissertation is a qualitative case study exploring the process of culture learning in a Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) classroom. Guided by a socioculturally based theoretical perspective and adopting the stance of the National Standards, which says that language students "cannot truly master the language until they have also mastered the cultural contexts in which the language occurs" (1996, p. 27), this study describes how culture learning is tied to class practices aimed at developing students' language proficiency by exploring how culture and language are integrated in spoken discourse and interactions in the classroom. The research questions of the study focus on both the instructor's and the students' perspectives towards the interrelationship between language learning and culture learning and their actual practices in the dynamic, complex, and emerging speech community of classroom contexts. Through analysis of student questionnaires, classroom observations, instructor interview, and stimulated-recall sessions with students, this study examines the contexts of culture learning, illustrates how language classroom contexts shape and are shaped by all the class members, including both the instructor and the students, and describes how the classroom spoken discourse in the current advanced-level undergraduate CFL course provides opportunities for culture learning and how culture learning actually happens in this language classroom. The findings suggest that as the instructor and the students interact in the language classroom, it is not so much the particular pieces of cultural and linguistic information under discussion that delineate the actual culture learning process, but rather the active exchanges and sometimes disagreements between the instructor and the students that provide opportunities for interactive cultural dialogues and discussions. In other words, cultural knowledge and understanding are situated in actual contexts of language use. Language learning is also embedded in the same interactive and collaborative discussion of texts. By exploring the complexity of the culture learning process in the language classroom setting, this study adds theoretical and pedagogical support to the premise that culture learning should be an integral part of language instruction at different levels throughout the language curriculum.

Using a data-driven qualitative approach and drawing from language socialization and communities of practice theories, this dissertation study examines the second language (L2) identity-building strategies of 22 American learners of Russian who engaged in a six-week telecollaborative project with Russian native speakers in two genres of Internet-mediated communication: in one-on-one interactions with an assigned native Russian speaking keypal and in selected virtual communities populated predominantly by native Russian speakers. The investigation of L2 identity enactment in Internet-mediated environments was guided by three research questions pertaining to (1) the nature of the discourse Russian (L2) learners use in interactions with native speakers in two genres of online interactions, (2) the discursive manifestations of L2 learner and speaker identity performances in the learners' online discourse; and (3) the learners' perceptions of their online experiences in two genres of online interactions with native-speaking peers. The methods of critical discourse analysis and interpretative phenomenological analysis were employed to examine the Russian learners' online interactional discourse and offline metatalk regarding their online experiences in the two genres. The analysis of the Russian learners' discourse revealed the complex nature of discursive L2 identity enactment as they moved into and out of the frames of language learners to complete class assignments and negotiate their competent L2 speaker positions in conversations with Russian-speaking peers. The findings indicate that the two genres of online interaction evoked distinct participation patterns and interactional practices. In both genres, L2 identity enactment involved three dimensions: the macro-level of global identity categories, the locally assigned identity positionings (e.g., heritage speaker, multilingual speaker), and interactionally negotiated stances and temporary positions that evoked self- or other-initiated L2 learner/speaker identity performances. The author concludes that L2 identity, when enacted in Internet-mediated environments, represents a continuum of L2 learner-speaker performances that rely on the contextual factors of the online encounter, learners' global identity tokens, and the dynamics of power relations in native-nonnative speaker interaction. Performing an L2 identity online is construed as a critical experience of re-evaluating one's association with the target language and transformation into a new kind of socially oriented multilingual subject.

Using both quantitative and qualitative methods of inquiry, this dissertation study undertakes an exploration of the dynamics of the social interaction in discourse co-constructed by pairs of college students in telecollaborative tandem exchanges. Two groups of participants, Mexican learners of English as a foreign language and American learners of Spanish as a foreign language, participated in video-based telecollaborative tandem exchanges where they worked in pairs to discuss topics assigned by their instructors, communicating half the time in Spanish and half in English. According to the principle of reciprocity in tandem learning, the participants switch between the roles of native speaker (NS) expert and non-native speaker (NNS) learner as they invest equal time, effort, and interest in each language part of the chats. Grounded in sociocultural theory (SCT) for second language acquisition (SLA), this study addresses research questions pertaining to (1) the distribution of talk between the members of each pair and between the language parts of the exchange, (2) the distribution of interactional resources deployed by the members of each pair to establish and maintain intersubjectivity and build a relationship, and (3) the individual experiences of participants regarding their positioning in and perspectives of the exchange. Addressing the three research questions allowed the researcher to look at the telecollaborative tandem exchanges from the perspectives of language production, social aspects of interaction, and individual experiences and perspectives to gather a deeper understanding of the tandem context. The analysis of three data sources—survey responses, chat transcripts from one chat of the semester-long telecollaborative tandem project, and post-project participant interviews—shows that the principle of reciprocity posited by tandem theorists as equal time, effort, and interest in each language part underestimates the complexity of the construct as it was created by the participants in the telecollaborative tandem interactions examined in this dissertation study. A mixed methods approach allowed the researcher to deconstruct and reconsider the construct of reciprocity in telecollaborative tandem learning. The telecollaborative tandem exchanges examined in this study were not reciprocal between language parts of the exchange in terms of language production, use of interactional resources, or tandem participant positioning. Instead, they presented complex pair relationships that used language differently in each language part to establish and maintain intersubjectivity, as well as the strong desire of the participants to position themselves and their partners as peers rather than take on the roles assumed to characterize the tandem context; that is, NS as expert and NNS as learner. In accordance with these findings, telecollaborative tandem learning should be approached with an open understanding of the concept of reciprocity in which the participants co-construct their relationship through meaningful social dialogue as peers, rather than through the roles of NS expert and NNS learner. Based on the findings of this study, the expert–learner model of reciprocity may be too rigid and too static for the dynamic context of telecollaborative tandem learning.