The effectiveness of a bilingual and a monolingual treatment condition was compared in the receptive training of novel action words presented to two bilingual, Spanish-dominant, minority-language preschoolers. In the bilingual condition, one set of actions and referents was trained in Spanish (L1) followed by training in English (L2). In the monolingual condition, another set of actions and referents was trained in L2 alone. For one child, superior L2 learning occurred in the bilingual condition, results consonant with reports by Garcia (1983a) and by Oskarsson (1975). For the other child, unexpectedly, the monolingual condition resulted in superior L2 learning. Her findings suggest that the effect of preference to learn in L2 may result in behavior which runs counter to expectations of performance based on observed dominance. Generalization of receptive learning to expressive performance was also assessed. Both children performed at sufficient levels to indicate learning was generalized from reception to expression.

While language aptitude and motivation are considered to be important contributors to second language (L2) attainment, two major gaps in the past research have been (1) a lack of nonlinear models stemming from a naïve and tacit assumption that learning outcomes are linearly related to their predictors, and (2) a lack of unified and integrative understanding of key individual differences (ID) variables (Dewaele, 2009; Larsen-Freeman, 1997). Despite changes in conceptualization of language development as a dynamic system comprised of nonlinear and interconnected subsystems (e.g., CDST), an integrative understanding of ID variables in L2 acquisition remains lacking. The purpose of this dissertation study was to examine motivation and aptitude and their relationship to second language acquisition. Specifically, the study set out to validate a number of theoretical claims made by energy conservation theory for second language acquisition (ECT-L2A) and its attempt to unify key ID variables under one model (Han et al., 2017a). ECT-L2A predicts, inter alia, that aptitude and motivation are positively related to L2 achievement but their effects diminish with increase in proficiency. This is visually represented as a nonlinear and asymptotic L2 learning trajectory vis-à-vis aptitude and motivation. In the current study, two hundred and three adult Spanish-speaking learners of L2 English (N=203) of wide range of proficiency were measured on their level of aptitude (LLAMA_F), motivation (Attitude Motivation Test Battery) and attainment (grammaticality judgment test). The data were analyzed using correlations (PPMC, partial, dis-attenuated), R-squared measures, and fitted with orthogonal distance regression via total least-squares method. The results of correlation analyses and regression showed that as predicted, aptitude contributed positively towards attainment, but its effect diminished with increase in proficiency. On the other hand, while all participants were motivated to learn, motivation decreased with increases in attainment throughout L2 development. Motivation’s effect on achievement became asymptotic and its contribution towards target language (TL) mastery diminished. When aptitude and motivation were combined as a single unit, the learning trajectory closely resembled the curve predicted by ECT-L2A. Based on these findings, two general interpretations concerning motivation and aptitude were presented: 1) changes in motivation and aptitude with respect to attainment and 2) their differential efficacy towards native-like proficiency during L2 development. Finally, implications regarding the universality and the versatility of ECT-L2A are discussed under the broader call for more mathematical models in future SLA research.

The overt teaching of the Monitor, or conscious rule awareness, to native Spanish-speaking ESL students was examined to note possible benefits to the students' oral English production. Native Spanish-speaking students of English (the experimental group) were taught an awareness of their ability to self-correct their spoken English. They were then compared to another group of native Spanish-speaking ESL students (the control group) in four areas: Ilyin Oral Interview score, total words produced, errors produced, and interference errors produced. The results of the study lend support to the theory that overt Monitor teaching could be beneficial to native Spanish-speaking students of English. The experimental group showed a significant gain in Ilyin scores and a significant reduction in the number of errors produced.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-28T20:56:47Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Rosana Valinas Llausas.pdf: 4660281 bytes, checksum: ae76911da5d3c264f0653b91345c1ef3 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-08-08 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The compulsory teaching of Spanish language was formalized by Law 11.161, enacted in 2005. Considering that teaching of Spanish language is on recent deployment, there is not enough knowledge about how such education is being taught, what the results were and what the best teaching methods. In this context, it becomes important to develop studies that focus on the teaching of the Spanish language in order to produce scientific knowledge that can support the decisions taken by the teacher. It is considered that the Behavior Analysis, based on the model of stimulus equivalence, can contribute with valuable suggestions. Such theoretical and methodological basis has been supporting the development of promising proposals in different areas, as in Portuguese, in the teaching of reading and writing; in Mathematics, teaching numbers and fractions; in Arts, in reading images; in Music, teaching of musical notes, among others. The present study focuses on the acquisition of the Spanish language by high school brazilians students. Participated in the study six high school students from public school East Zone São Paulo, that attend classes at technical course of a particular network. Three studies containing repertoire initial evaluation, intervention and final repertoire evaluation were performed. The teaching took place in the collective context (researcher and participants) using a software. Study 1 aimed to teach reading and handwriting of the verb be in the present tense. The stimuli used were dictated verb (A), figure (B), printed verb (C). The AB, AC and AE relations were taught and tested relations selection (BC and CB), translation (CT and AT), oralization (BD and CD) and handwriting (AF). In Study 2, was taught to read and write handwritten words with J, LL or Ñ, corresponding with the definite article. Relations between dictated word (A), figure (B) and the written word (C) were also taught, being taught the AB, AC and AE relations and tested the BC and CB relations, (CT and AT) translation, oralization (BC and CD) and writing (AF and BE ) both words and sentence of generalization. Study 3 aimed to teach participants to give appropriate answers to the questions with Who is... / Who are... / How is/are... To do so, the participant is taught to relate print questions - Print Answer ( Qiri ), testing not taught relations (QiQt, QiRm, QiRo, QdQt, QdRm, QdRo, RiRt, QdQi e QdRi). The results showed that the teaching procedures based on equivalence stimulus model, enabled the emergence of behaviors not directly taught (the translation into Portuguese, reading, handwriting and name the verb to be , words and even of sentence in Spanish). In the latter study, it was observed that the teaching of a unique relation made the occurrence of Answering Questions with is... / Who are... / How is/are..., both orally and manuscript, and its translation into Portuguese / A obrigatoriedade do ensino do espanhol foi formalizada pela Lei 11.161, promulgada em 2005. Tendo em vista que é recente a implantação do ensino de espanhol, ainda não há conhecimento suficiente sobre como está sendo ministrado tal ensino, quais os resultados obtidos e quais os melhores métodos de ensino. Nesse contexto, torna-se importante desenvolver estudos que tenham como foco o ensino de língua espanhola, a fim de se produzir conhecimentos científicos que possam embasar as decisões tomadas pelo professor. Considera-se que a Análise do Comportamento, tendo por base o modelo de equivalência de estímulos, pode contribuir com sugestões valiosas. Tal base teórico-metodológica vem dando suporte à elaboração de propostas promissoras em diferentes áreas, como em Língua Portuguesa, no ensino de leitura e escrita; em Matemática, no ensino de números e de frações; em Artes, na leitura de imagens; em Música, no ensino de notas musicais, entre outros. No presente trabalho, coloca-se em foco a aquisição de língua espanhola por alunos brasileiros do Ensino Médio. Participaram seis estudantes do Ensino Médio de uma escola da rede pública da Zona Leste de São Paulo, e que faziam curso técnico em uma escola da rede particular. Foram realizados três Estudos com Avaliação do Repertório Inicial, Intervenção e Avaliação do Repertório Final. O ensino ocorreu em contexto coletivo (pesquisador com os participantes) e com uso de software. O Estudo 1 teve como objetivo ensinar leitura e escrita manuscrita do verbo ser, no presente do indicativo. Os estímulos utilizados foram verbo ditado (A), figura (B), verbo impresso (C). Foram ensinadas as relações AB, AC e AE e testadas as relações de seleção (BC e CB), tradução (CT e AT), oralização (BD e CD) e escrita manuscrita (AF). No Estudo 2, ensinou-se a ler e escrever de forma manuscrita palavras com J, LL ou Ñ, com o correspondente artigo definido. Também foram ensinadas relações entre palavra ditada (A), figura (B) e palavra escrita (C), sendo ensinadas as relações AB, AC e AE e testadas as relações BC e CB, a tradução (CT e AT), a oralização (BC e CD) e a escrita (BE e AF) tanto de palavras quanto de orações de generalização. O Estudo 3 teve como objetivo ensinar os participantes a dar respostas adequadas às questões com Quién es.../Quiénes son.../Cómo es.../Cómo son... Para tanto, ensinou-se o participante a relacionar Questão impressa - Resposta impressa (QiRi), testando-se relações não ensinadas (QiQt, QiRm, QiRo, QdQt, QdRm, QdRo, RiRt, QdQi e QdRi). Os resultados evidenciaram que os procedimentos de ensino, com base no modelo de equivalência de estímulos, possibilitaram a emergência de comportamentos não ensinados diretamente (a tradução para o português, a leitura, a nomeação e a escrita manuscrita do verbo ser, de palavras e, ainda, de orações em espanhol). No último estudo, evidenciou-se que o ensino de uma única relação possibilitou a ocorrência do Responder a Questões com Quién es.../Quiénes son.../Cómo es.../Cómo son..., de forma oral e manuscrita, e sua tradução para o português

Latino communities frequently face barriers in the midst of largely English speaking and mostly Anglo-American culture surrounding communities. These surrounding communities often may be somewhat resistant to adjusting to their changing populations. This case study is a linguistic needs assessment of a Latino community in a small city and neighboring town in the Northwest. Discussed are experiences, needs, and opinions of thirty Latina mother participants in regards to living in this community. Participants, all of whom were monolingual Spanish or limited English proficiency recent immigrants, were recruited through a social service agency serving low income Latinos. The study used observation, ethnographic-style notetaking, theme identification, and questionnaire development based on these themes, with short interviews. Seven themes were identified as central to participants' lives: general language issues, employment, housing, utility companies and social service agencies, medical care, child care and schools, and domestic violence. Implications are that more affordable housing, child care, and higher paying jobs would ameliorate the lives of these low-income Latino families. Also, more bilingual and culturally competent people are needed as property managers, employers, teachers, social service workers, and especially doctors, nurses, and medical receptionists for Latino families to have equal access and for the surrounding community to integrate with its changing population. Recommendations for English as a second language programs include development of curriculum relevant to Latina mothers' lives and teaching of linguistic strategies for living in the surrounding community. Concluding is a recommendation that studies with similar research questions be carried out in the surrounding community and in other Latino communities so, in comparing results, broader statements can be made about this population.

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El presente estudio trata sobre el aprendizaje de vocabulario de español como lengua extranjera (ELE) en la escuela sueca e investiga si el uso de las aplicaciones didácticas, para los teléfonos inteligentes, que sirven para aprender vocabulario podría ser un apoyo al aprendizaje de nuevas palabras para alumnos en el paso 1, tanto en la educación secundaria como en el bachillerato. También investiga en qué medida los profesores de ELE utilizan las aplicaciones didácticas de vocabulario para que los alumnos puedan aprender nuevas palabras. Para hacer el estudio se ha realizado dos pruebas de vocabulario en cuatros clases del paso 1 en escuelas suecas en las cuales la mitad aprendió con apoyo de una aplicación didáctica mientras que la otra mitad aprendió con la estrategia tradicional, o sea, con listas de vocabulario. Además, se ha entrevistado a tres profesoras suecas de ELE sobre su uso de aplicaciones didácticas en su enseñanza. Los resultados muestran que los alumnos que utilizaron la aplicación didáctica para aprender vocabulario recordaban mejor las palabras que los alumnos que las aprendieron con la estrategia tradicional. Sin embargo, las tres profesoras informantes en la investigación nunca usan aplicaciones didácticas en su enseñanza ya que les falta experiencia del entorno digital. El análisis indica que, aunque el aprendizaje con apoyo de aplicaciones didácticas es efectivo para aprender vocabulario y hay investigadores que lo avalan y recomiendan a los profesores que utilicen aplicaciones para teléfonos inteligentes, los profesores no las utilizan debido a que tienen poco conocimiento sobre recursos técnicos. Así, la conclusión es que aprender vocabulario con aplicaciones didácticas se muestra más efectivo que aprender con la estrategia tradicional, y que los profesores suecos necesitan formación en el entorno digital para que puedan utilizar aplicaciones móviles en su enseñanza. / The present study deals with vocabulary learning of Spanish as a foreign language and investigates if the use of didactic smartphone applications focused on vocabulary learning could help the learning of new words in Spanish for students at level 1, both in secondary schools and in upper secondary schools. The study also investigates to what extent the teachers of Spanish as a foreign language use didactic vocabulary applications in order for the students to learn new words. To conduct the study two vocabulary tests have been made in four classes at level 1 in Swedish schools. Half the students learnt the vocabulary with the use of a didactic application, while the other half learnt it by using the traditional strategy with lists of words. Conversations were also held with three Swedish teachers in Spanish as a foreign language about their use of didactic applications in their teaching. The results show that the students that used the didactic application to learn the vocabulary remembered the words better than the students that learnt the vocabulary by using the traditional strategy. Nevertheless, the three teachers in the investigation never use didactic applications in their teaching since they lack experience of technical tools. The analysis indicates that even though learning with the use of didactic applications is good for vocabulary learning and that investigators recommend teachers to use mobile applications in their teaching, the teachers do not do it because of their little knowledge about technical resources. Hence, the conclusion is that learning vocabulary with didactic applications is more successful than learning vocabulary by using the traditional strategy, but also that Swedish teachers in Spanish as a foreign language need practice in the technical environment so that they can use mobile applications in their teaching.

This anticipated piece of work named "Teaching Spanish in preschool and young school age is divided into two parts. The first part is the theoretical part and describes the evolutionary specifics of preschool and young school-aged children. The diploma thesis responds to very frequent question when is appropriate to start with teaching a foreign language. It also describes the advantages and disadvantages of teaching foreign languages in early age. It also pursues the issue how should be the teaching of a foreign language realized in preschool institutions and in the first grade of primary school. The second part of diploma thesis is a handbook for teaching Spanish in preschool age which is made on the basis of experimental method for teaching French.

Cette recherche aborde la problématique du changement curriculaire dans l’enseignement de l’espagnol au Chili. Cette transformation du curriculum en 1996 a provoqué une modification dans la dénomination de la discipline scolaire, une nouvelle organisation des contenus, ainsi qu’une nouvelle approche didactique pour l’enseignement. Nous postulons que ces modifications ont occasionné une instabilité dans la manière de percevoir l’enseignement de l’espagnol aujourd’hui. Ainsi, le point de départ de cette recherche est de connaître et d’expliquer comment les différentes transformations curriculaires ont agi chez les enseignants, aussi bien dans la représentation qu’ils se sont construite de la discipline que dans la manière de traiter les contenus. Notre motivation principale était de connaître le point de vue des enseignants d’espagnol du primaire. De ce fait, nous avons interviewé douze enseignants des différents établissements scolaires à Santiago du Chili ; ces établissements avaient comme point commun le fait d’avoir une population scolaire majoritairement défavorisée. Notre intérêt pour la dernière classe du niveau primaire, s’explique par le fait que celle-ci dispense un niveau scolaire qui donne accès à l’enseignement secondaire. Ainsi, dans cette classe, les élèves sont censés avoir acquis un certains nombre de capacités et des compétences nécessaires pour le niveau secondaire. Une de nos hypothèses de départ postule que les élèves des enseignants interviewés n’ont pas acquis les compétences et les capacités de base signalées exigées par le curriculum dans ce niveau scolaire. Nous avons postulé ceci, car les nouveaux contenus et la nouvelle approche didactique de la discipline scolaire, impliquent un enseignement plus sophistiqué, basé notamment sur le développement des compétences que les enseignants ne comprennent pas dans toute sa dimension. / This research addresses the issue of curriculum change in the teaching of Spanish in Chile. This modification in the curriculum in 1996 caused a change of the school discipline’s name, a new organization of content as well as a new didactic approach to teaching. We postulate that these changes have caused instability in the manner of perceiving the teaching of Spanish today. Thus, the starting point of this research is to know and to explain the impact of the different curricular alterations among teachers, both in their own representation of the discipline and in the way they handle the content.Our main motivation was to know the views of primary school Spanish teachers. Therefore, we interviewed twelve teachers from different schools in Santiago, Chile. All of these institutions had in common a predominantly disadvantaged school population.Our interest in the last grade of primary school, is explained by the fact that it provides a level of education that gives access to secondary education. Thus, in this class, students are expected to have acquired a number of abilities and skills to get to the secondary level. One of our initial hypotheses postulates that the students of the interviewed teachers have not acquired the capabilities and basic skills that the curriculum of this grade reports as required. We postulated this as the new contents and new didactic approach to school discipline involve a more sophisticated teaching, a teaching based particularly on the development of skills that teachers do not fully understand.

Published in TESOL Quarterly a decade ago, the Academic Word List (AWL) (Coxhead, 2000) has become increasingly influential in the field of TESOL. With more than 82% of the AWL comprised of words of Latin and Greek, much of this important list logically consists of English-Spanish cognates because Spanish originated from Latin. In order to serve Spanishspeaking English language learners (SSELLs) better, their teachers need to know which AWL words are cognates. Using published sources and linguistic analysis of the 570 items in the AWL, the research in this thesis has resulted in a newly reorganized AWL divided into four categories that are more useful for our Spanish-speaking English language learners as well as their instructors, curriculum designers, and materials writers: English-Spanish true cognates, partial cognates, false cognates, and non-cognates