This thesis reports on a longitudinal, mixed-methods study of the relationships between informal (i.e. out-of-class) second language (L2) contact, vocabulary-related strategic behaviour and vocabulary gain in a study abroad context. The study addressed three main gaps in knowledge that arose from analysis of the literature: (1) the evidence of informal L2 contact was largely unreliable, ungeneralisable, or both; (2) the evidence of vocabulary-related strategic behaviour in informal L2 contact was neither context nor task specific; and (3) there was no evidence of the interplay between informal L2 contact, vocabulary-related strategic behaviour and vocabulary gain in a study abroad context. The sample (n=241) were adults undertaking a study abroad experience (SAE) in England, who comprised a range of nationalities and first language backgrounds and for whom the majority of the SAE was spent outside of the classroom. A vocabulary test was administered at the beginning and end of the SAE. A questionnaire was administered during the SAE to determine the most highly identified with informal L2 contact scenarios and out-of-class vocabulary-related strategies. Subsequently, an innovative research tool comprising computer-based simulations of the most identified with scenarios was developed and used as the stimulus in semi-structured interviews to capture task and/or context-specific vocabulary-related strategic behaviour. Analysis grouped participants by length of stay and location. The most highly identified with informal L2 contact scenarios involved participants seeking information from external sources, such as interlocutors, posters or websites. The vocabulary-related strategies most highly identified with by the sample pertained to the use of a newly encountered lexical item; that is, they were strategies in which the learner used or prepared to use a lexical item that they had decided to engage with strategically. The strategic behaviour manifested in response to the simulation tool (the 'OWLS') provided strong evidence in support of the fundamental considerations of task, context and intention in strategy-based research. Regression analysis revealed that informal L2 contact scenarios that were less strategically prohibitive and strategies that were less context-dependent were predictors of vocabulary gain. The pedagogical implications of these findings are far- reaching in terms of preparing L2 learners for informal contact on a SAE and guiding their manipulation of that contact for maximum linguistic gain.

Migration entails adjustment and change, a process crystallized in the way language use patterns, proficiencies and identifications change. Although migrants are often bi/ multilingual, their language proficiency tends to be associated with fluency in the host language. Such a monolingual approach is fundamentally at odds with the ethnolinguistic diversity in migration contexts and has prevented a more holistic approach to the dynamic realities of bi/multilinguals. It has also perpetuated a view of linguistic proficiency as technical skill, judged according to idealized monolingual norms. Little is known of speakers' own notions of proficiency in their existing migrant languages (ML) and the impact on their socialpsychological makeup as their linguistic repertoire undergoes changes in use, function and status. This research investigated proficiency as a matter of conceptualization through its users, including its role for migrants' continued sense of self in the face of sociolinguistic discontinuities. A three-phase research design involving focus groups, a postal survey and follow-up interviews was used with a sample of migrants from a wide range of ethnolinguistic backgrounds. The study found evidence for a multidimensional conceptualization of migrant language proficiency (MLP) with a complex range of underlying motivations and a strong emotional attachment to ML, revealing ML as a linguistic resource crucial for self-construction. The present study aimed to provide a deeper understanding of the dynamic nature of these matters to contribute to a socio-culturally grounded view of proficiency and self-concept to help reveal some of the complex processes associated with migrants' social, cultural and psychological wellbeing. The study proposes bi/multilingualism as a settlement target to facilitate this outcome and to foster a sense of self that accommodates multiple identities. Investment in languages promotes an inclusive society of global citizens and complements New Zealand's official Māori/English bilingualism.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T15:07:13Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DanielD_TESE.pdf: 1872964 bytes, checksum: b0bca14a6ce50d4cd468df3f73095c2a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-04-27 / This thesis studies the use of argumentation as a discursive element in digital media, particularly blogs. We analyzed the Blog "Fatos e Dados" [Facts and Data], created by Petrobras in the context of allegations of corruption that culminated in the installation of a Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry to investigate the company within the Congress. We intend to understand the influence that the discursive elements triggered by argumentation exercise in blogs and about themes scheduling. To this end, we work with notions of argumentation in dialogue with questions of language and discourse from the work of Charaudeau (2006), Citelli (2007), Perelman & Olbrechts-Tyteca (2005), Foucault (2007, 2008a), Bakhtin (2006) and Breton (2003). We also observe our subject from the perspective of social representations, where we seek to clarify concepts such as public image and the use of representations as argumentative elements, considering the work of Moscovici (2007). We also consider reflections about hypertext and the context of cyberculture, with authors such as Levy (1993, 1999, 2003), Castells (2003) and Chartier (1999 and 2002), and issues of discourse analysis, especially in Orlandi (1988, 1989, 1996 and 2001), as well as Foucault (2008b). We analyzed 118 posts published in the first 30 days of existence of the blog "Fatos e Dados" (between 2 June and 1 July 2009), and analyzed in detail the top ten. A corporate blog aims to defend the points of view and public image of the organization, and, therefore, uses elements of social representations to build their arguments. It goes beyond the blog, as the main news criteria, including the posts we reviewed, the credibility of Petrobras as the source of information. In the posts analyzed, the news values of innovation and relevance also arise. The controversy between the Blog and the press resulted from an inadequacy and lack of preparation of media to deal with a corporate blog that was able to explore the characteristics of liberation of the emission pole in cyberculture. The Blog is a discursive manifestation in a concrete historical situation, whose understanding and attribution of meaning takes place from the social relations between subjects that, most of the time, place themselves in discursive and ideological dispute between each other - this dispute also affects the movements of reading and reading production. We conclude that intersubjective relationships that occur in blogs change, in the form of argumentative techniques used, the notions of news criteria, interfering with scheduling of news and organization of information in digital media outlets. It is also clear the influence that the discursive elements triggered by argumentation exercise in digital media, trying to resize and reframe frames of reality conveyed by it in relation to the subject-readers. Blogs have become part of the scenario information with the emergence of the Internet and are able to interfere in a more effective way to organize the scheduling of media from the conscious utilization of argumentative elements in their posts / Esta tese estuda a utiliza??o da argumenta??o como elemento discursivo em m?dias digitais, em particular os blogs. Analisamos o Blog "Fatos e Dados", criado pela Petrobras no contexto de den?ncias de corrup??o que culminaram na instala??o de uma CPI para investigar a empresa no ?mbito do Congresso Nacional. Pretendemos compreender a influ?ncia que os elementos discursivos acionados pela argumenta??o exercem em blogs e sobre o agendamento de temas. Para tanto, trabalhamos com no??es de argumenta??o em di?logo com quest?es de linguagem e discurso a partir da obra de Charaudeau (2006), Citelli (2007), Perelman & Olbrechts-Tyteca (2005). Foucault (2007, 2008a), Bakhtin (2006) e Breton (2003). Observamos, tamb?m, nosso objeto a partir das perspectivas das representa??es sociais, de onde procuramos esclarecer conceitos como imagem p?blica e o uso das representa??es como elementos argumentativos, tomando em considera??o a obra de Moscovici (2007). Consideramos, tamb?m, as reflex?es acerca de hipertexto e do contexto da cibercultura, com autores como L?vy (1993, 1999, 2003), Castells (2003) e Chartier (1999 e 2002), e de quest?es de an?lise do discurso, principalmente em Orlandi (1988, 1989, 1996 e 2001), como tamb?m em Foucault (2008b). Aproximamo-nos de nosso objeto realizando um recorte de 118 posts publicados nos primeiros 30 dias de exist?ncia do Blog "Fatos e Dados" (entre 2 de junho e 1 de julho de 2009), sendo analisados detalhadamente os dez primeiros. Um blog corporativo tem como objetivo expl?cito defender pontos de vista e imagem p?blica da organiza??o, e, por isso mesmo, utiliza elementos das representa??es sociais para construir seus argumentos. Perpassa a todo o Blog, como principal crit?rio de noticiabilidade, inclusive nos posts que analisamos, a credibilidade da Petrobras como fonte das informa??es. Surgem, tamb?m, nos posts analisados os valores-not?cia da inova??o e relev?ncia. A pol?mica que o Blog travou com a imprensa resultou de uma inadequa??o e falta de prepara??o da m?dia para lidar com um blog corporativo que soube explorar as caracter?sticas de libera??o do polo da emiss?o na cibercultura. O Blog ? uma manifesta??o discursiva falada em uma situa??o hist?rica concreta, cuja compreens?o e atribui??o de sentido se realiza a partir das rela??es sociais estabelecidas entre sujeitos que, boa parte das vezes, se colocam em forma??es discursivas e posi??es ideol?gicas disputa entre si essa disputa interfere tamb?m nos movimentos de leitura e na produ??o de leitura. Conclu?mos que as rela??es intersubjetivas que ocorrem nos blogs alteram, na forma das t?cnicas argumentativas utilizadas, as no??es de noticiabilidade, interferindo no agendamento de not?cias e na organiza??o das informa??es em ve?culos da m?dia digital. Restou claro, tamb?m, a influ?ncia que os elementos discursivos acionados pela argumenta??o exercem, na m?dia digital, procurando redimensionar e ressignificar quadros da realidade por ela veiculados em rela??o aos sujeitos-leitores. Os blogs passaram a fazer parte do cen?rio informativo com a emerg?ncia da Internet e conseguem interferir de um modo mais efetivo na organiza??o do agendamento da m?dia a partir da utiliza??o consciente de elementos argumentativos nos seus posts