In our ever more international world, the English language plays an important role. This is also reflected in its prominent position as a core subject in the Swedish school system. It is therefore important that English teachers offer students an environment in which they have the best possible opportunities to be successful in reaching the goals specified in the syllabuses. One variable in a successful foreign language classroom is the teacher's usage ofthe target language. This study is about English teachers' views on the issue of target language usage in the classroom, versus usage of the mother tongue. In this study, at Upper Secondary level, the interviews show that the teachers are, more or less, in agreement that the target language should be used all the time in the classroom. There are, however, occasions in which the interviewed teachers do not work according to their own beliefs and methods and revert to using Swedish. The main such occasions can briefly be said to be: explanation of grammar, non-subject related "mentor's issues" and classroom management issues. In addition, this study argues that the governing documents, previous research, as well as well-known theories on the subject support a high usage of the target language by the teacher.

In light of the 2010 recommendation of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages that teachers use the target language (TL) "as exclusively as possible," teachers face the necessity of promoting target language use and assessing how their language choices influence their students. The purpose of this study was to analyze teachers' perspectives and practices of whether to use students' first language or the target language. Data from over 100 foreign language teachers, predominantly those in the K-12 sector, were collected through a survey in order to measure how teachers manage the phenomenon of language choice. The findings were analyzed descriptively, categorically, and inferentially to find relationships among teachers in general, as well as within subgroups of participants. Findings indicate that teachers felt using the target language was more of a challenge for academic purposes because of their belief that they should be conducted in the TL. Academic tasks were also reported involving a greater quantity of speech functions, which made them more difficult to complete in the target language. Additional findings showed that teachers in general were most often influenced by student attitudes, motivation, and proficiency as well as their own attitudes, motivation, and proficiency. For certain subgroups, however, when teachers focused more on their own proficiency, motivation, training and experience they were more likely to reach 90% TL use or more. Furthermore, it was found that promoting the target language effectively equated with incorporating many strategies that supported TL goals. The most prevalent techniques found for promoting TL use were preparing for making input comprehensible, giving praise and recognition, and explaining its importance at the beginning of the year. Recommendations for increasing the ability of teachers to face the challenges of TL use are to simplify and increase the academic, social, and managerial purposes for which it can be used, prioritize and focus on the most influential factors of language choice (LC) within teachers' control, and form and promote a plan for TL use built upon a foundation of most effective techniques and practices for optimizing language choices.

This study investigates the use of different strategies for translating puns in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. The material chosen for this study consist of the two Swedish translations by Nonnen (1870/1984) and Westman (2009). Six puns were selected for the analysis which greatly relies on Delabastita’s (1996) eight strategies for translating puns, and Newmark’s (1988) translation methods. The analysis shows that Westman empathises with the readers of the TT while Nonnen empathises with the ST. This entails that Westman tends to use a more ‘free’ translation and is more inclined to adapt the ST puns to make them more visible for the readership of the TT. The priority for Nonnen, on the other hand, is to remain faithful to the contextual meaning of the ST. Paradoxically, to be faithful to the ST does not necessarily entail that the translator respects the semantic aspects of the ST, but that they adapt the culture of the ST to better fit the cultural and linguistic framework of the TL. Since Westman adapts the ST puns so that they are still recognised by the reader of the TT, her translation appears to be more suitable for the TL readership than Nonnen’s.

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The thesis is concerned with the role of the target language in foreign language teaching. The objective of the thesis is to discuss the influence of teaching English by means of the target language on communicative competence of young learners. The theoretical part elaborates the theoretical principles that concern employment of the target language in teaching. Futhermore, it analyses the factors influencing foreign language learning, discusses the possibility of language acquisition in the classroom and studies the influence of using the target language as the language of communication and instruction. Subsequently, it provides synchronic and diachronic analysis of L2 and L1 use in English language teaching methodology. In conclusion, the theoretical part evaluates the benefits of teaching by means of the target language, anticipates some risks and problems concerned with teaching exclusively by means of the target language and proposes techniques for maximization of the target language use. The semi-quantitative research studies the issue of the role of the target language in the classroom on the basis of monitoring a sample of teachers of Czech primary schools. Primarily, it investigates the amount of comprehensible input that young learners are provided with and means that teachers employ in...

Common mistakes Czech students make in English represent the main topic of the presented master thesis. The theoretical part mainly deals with the presentation of various TEFL (Teaching English as Foreign Language) methods. Moreover, they are discussed from several perspectives, including techniques, strategies and principles while using the particular method, the role of the teacher, his or her relationship with students, and especially the response to errors within each of the methods. The purpose of presenting TEFL methods is to show also the connection between mistakes and methods themselves. Concerning the area of mistakes and their corrections, we focus on the classification of mistakes and their division. The practical part is based on various illustrations of mistakes from students' writing assignments. These mistakes are divided into four major classes, including grammar, spelling, wrong word and word order. The thesis also deals with the remedial treatment which may hopefully reduce the number of possible mistakes. The aim of the thesis is to compare the level of students' English language knowledge at the Secondary School of Tourism in Prague where the author works as an English teacher.

Thesis (M.A. (African languages)) --University of Limpopo, 2011 / The aim of this study was to investigate the problems encountered by translators when translating medical terms from English into Tshivenda. It has been revealed in this study that the major problem that the translators are confronted with is lack of terminology in the specialized field such as Health. This problem is caused by the fact that different languages entail a variety of culture. The study revealed that most translators and lexicographers resort to transliteration and borrowing when confronted with zero-equivalence. They regard transliteration and borrowing as the quickest possible strategies. The study discovered that transliteration should not be opted as an alternative strategy to deal with zero-equivalence as users will be led to a state of confusion. The study revealed that communicative translation is regarded as the most fruitful method of translation as it conveys the exact message of the original in a best possible manner. Both the source and the target users get the same message. KEY CONCEPTS Translation, Culture, Source Language (SL), Target Language (TL), Translation equivalence and Zero-equivalence.

Australia hosts thousands of English language learners every year and one of the reasons learners give for this is their belief that living in the target language community naturally avails them of more language learning opportunities than are available in their homelands. In fact, learners actually learn faster and more effectively compared to the limited gains in their respective countries. Believing that the target language community has a strong role in language learning, this research focuses on the factors and opportunities which enable students to develop their language skills in informal settings outside the school. Due to the vast scope of the research area, six different types of data collection methods have been used so that a wider spectrum in SLA could be investigated. These include an exploration of learner beliefs about their language learning experiences and a study of authentic social activities and linguistic engagements within those activities. The outcome of this research suggests that language learning is not first initiated “in the head”, but starts with the social activities in which learners participate and the qualities of the linguistic challenges and opportunities within these activities. The research draws on sociocultural theory (Vygotsky 1962, 1978), ecological approach to learning (van Lier 1999) and register theory (Halliday and Hasan 1985), and also on a range of research within second language acquisition studies. The study illustrates that language learning occurs in the context of activitybased communication experiences in authentic contexts, and the more the constant challenge and varied linguistic opportunities exist in the learner’s ecology, the more and better the chances to learn language. An overall approach to understanding independent language learning and a conceptual framework for examining informal language learning opportunities, have been developed. The study concludes with some implications for pedagogical practice in English language classrooms.

Australia hosts thousands of English language learners every year and one of the reasons learners give for this is their belief that living in the target language community naturally avails them of more language learning opportunities than are available in their homelands. In fact, learners actually learn faster and more effectively compared to the limited gains in their respective countries. Believing that the target language community has a strong role in language learning, this research focuses on the factors and opportunities which enable students to develop their language skills in informal settings outside the school. Due to the vast scope of the research area, six different types of data collection methods have been used so that a wider spectrum in SLA could be investigated. These include an exploration of learner beliefs about their language learning experiences and a study of authentic social activities and linguistic engagements within those activities. The outcome of this research suggests that language learning is not first initiated “in the head”, but starts with the social activities in which learners participate and the qualities of the linguistic challenges and opportunities within these activities. The research draws on sociocultural theory (Vygotsky 1962, 1978), ecological approach to learning (van Lier 1999) and register theory (Halliday and Hasan 1985), and also on a range of research within second language acquisition studies. The study illustrates that language learning occurs in the context of activitybased communication experiences in authentic contexts, and the more the constant challenge and varied linguistic opportunities exist in the learner’s ecology, the more and better the chances to learn language. An overall approach to understanding independent language learning and a conceptual framework for examining informal language learning opportunities, have been developed. The study concludes with some implications for pedagogical practice in English language classrooms.

<p>The aim of this study was to investigate how code-switching operates and what impact it has on the interaction in the EFL classroom. The study was conducted at a Swedish secondary school by means of observations, interviews, and a questionnaire. The participants of the study were 79 students and two teachers. Both teachers and students were observed and, in addition to this, the students answered the questionnaire and the teachers were interviewed.</p><p>The results showed that there were several factors that triggered the students' use of the native language and the ultimate reason for switching to the native language was often to facilitate the learning process. Typical situations in which the students switched to Swedish were when they communicated with their peers or when they encountered unfamiliar words. Moreover, the results suggest that the teacher plays an important role for the choice of code in the classroom through his/her own language use and attitude towards code-switching. Neither of the interviewed teachers nor the majority of the students thought that there were any positive aspects to code-switching.</p>