Usage-based theories of language development underscore the importance of children using language to learn language. Few investigations have applied usage-based theories to dual language learners (DLLs), who comprise a growing share of children attending early education programs in the U.S. Three studies were carried out to investigate the role of DLLs’ language usage during preschool. Specifically, the studies examined: 1) classrooms factors that predicted Spanish and English usage, 2) the relationships among Spanish and English usage in classrooms and children’s oral language skills, and 3) the relationships among exposure to and usage of Spanish and English at home and in classrooms and children’s oral language skills. Participants were selected from a larger study of language and literacy development of DLLs attending Head Start and public prekindergarten programs. Hierarchical linear models were conducted to examine predictive relationships among the variables of interest in each study. Results of the first study indicated that the amount of Spanish and English that DLLs used in classrooms was strongly influenced by how often their lead teachers and assistant teachers used Spanish and English. Findings from the second study revealed that English usage in classrooms promoted the development of oral language skills in English but negatively affected Spanish expressive vocabulary. The third study found that usage of Spanish and English was important across environmental settings, and that language usage exerted a greater effect on oral language skills than language exposure. Collectively, the results of these studies reinforce the applicability of usage-based theories to DLL children. Moreover, the results signify the importance of providing DLLs numerous opportunities to use both languages in order to promote bilingual language development.

published_or_final_version / Linguistics / Master / Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics

The demand for using the English language as a means of communication has increased substantially around the world because of its status as the language of globalisation, international communication, trade, media, and research (Flowerdew and Peacock 2001). The Saudi Ministry of Education (MoE) has considered this demand and taken significant steps to reform the teaching of English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). For example, the aims of and documentation for the TEFL curriculum have been modified to focus on the four basic language skills and to promote students’ communicative competence. However, despite all these efforts, there has been little progress in the area of TEFL in KSA. Classroom teaching practices are still devoted to secondary purposes, such as teaching grammar, translating literary texts, memorisation, rote learning, and preparing for summative exams. This reality may indicate an incompatibility between the government’s efforts to develop TEFL and the practices used by English language teachers in their classes. This incompatibility, however, may also suggest that English language teachers have their own reasons for not teaching English for communicative purposes and are incapable of implementing innovative teaching methods, such as the Communicative Language Teaching approach (CLT). This study therefore explores the challenges faced by Saudi English teachers (SETs) in their teaching practice that might prevent them from teaching for communicative purposes and implementing CLT in their classes. In order to meet this objective, data obtained from interviews, questionnaires and documents were analysed and classified into various categories. The key findings revealed that the current methodological practices of SETs are traditional teaching methods that stress the dominant role of teachers, marginalise students’ interactions, focus on discrete skills, and encourage competitive rather than cooperative learning. Furthermore, by using CHAT theory as a framework, the study explored a range of challenges that SETs face when the implementing CLT. These challenges stem from the individual and contextual levels of SETs’ teaching practice. At the individual level, it emerged that SETs had some misconceptions about some of the main features of CLT, and were not sufficiently confident to run communicative classes and adopt CLT in their teaching practice. The data, moreover, suggested that these shortcomings were a result of the SETs’ pedagogical and linguistic preparation in their pre-service programmes. At the contextual level, the study data suggested that there were two main types of constraint that challenge SETs in terms of teaching for communicative purposes and applying CLT in their teaching practice. Firstly, there were institutional and situational factors (for example the quality of the in-service training programme, examination purposes and classroom structure), and, secondly, socio-cultural factors (such as the traditional view of education, and the status of the English language in the Saudi context) that seemed to be incompatible with teaching English for communicative purposes. The study concludes with recommendations that aim to help improve the current situation of TEFL in KSA. For example, ending the isolation between the key parties involved in EFL teaching and learning in the Saudi context is very important, and changes to pre-service and in-service programmes, as well as at the contextual levels, are also essential.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / La competencia pragmática es un componente de la competencia comunicativa. Para que un hablante sea competente en una lengua, no sólo debe tener el conocimiento lingüístico, sino que, además, debe entender las normas, valores y estructuras sociales de la comunidad de habla. Al aplicar estos conceptos al campo de adquisición de segunda lengua (L2) o de lengua extranjera (LE), nos damos cuenta de que la enseñanza de pragmática de L2 es fundamental para ayudar a que el aprendiz establezca las similitudes y diferencias entre las normas, valores y estructuras sociales de su L1 y las de la lengua en estudio. Como no hay un modelo único a seguir en la enseñanza de pragmática para alcanzar los mejores resultados en cuanto a la adquisición de esta competencia, este estudio describe algunos modelos eficaces de enseñanza de la pragmática en el aula de español como lengua extranjera (ELE), y analiza la manera como los libros de texto examinados incluyen y tratan los temas de la pragmática. Este estudio sobre la adquisición de pragmática en segunda lengua aportará al campo de la enseñanza de pragmática, mediante una unidad didáctica que implementa los hallazgos de varios investigadores en el área de adquisición de segunda lengua, con énfasis en la adquisición de interlengua pragmática, es decir, de pragmática en segunda lengua (L2) o lengua extranjera (LE).