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.

This paper provides analysis of a series of email correspondences between secondary newcomer immigrant students and Latino business professionals within the same urban community. The author, using James Gee's discourse theory (1990, 1996, 1999, 2004) contends that school-based discourses and structures have historically operated as barriers to academic success and societal acceptance for the vast majority of secondary English Language Learners, indicating the systemic perpetuation of a racist, classist, xenophobic social order through the public schools. When an attempt is made to sidestep these school-based discourses and put students in direct contact with mature, successful practitioners of English outside of the education community, the students encounter "mentor talk," a set of discourses that uncritically embrace the notions of a neutral, meritocratic, knowledge-based socioeconomic order. At the same time, students encounter language that can be appropriated for their own creative constructions of identity as they seek to position themselves in a new society. Even when there exists a strong alignment between the student's socially-situated identity presentation and the ideological thrust of "mentor talk," many societal barriers stand in the pathway of social and educational advancement. More often, the student identities express resistance, often subtle, to the standard, hegemonizing guidelines for success they have been offered. / text

"September 2008". / Thesis (DAppLing)--Macquarie University, Division of Linguistics and Psychology, Dept. of Linguistics, 2009. / Bibliography: p. 189-196. / The purpose of this research was to analyse the pragmalinguistic and sociopragmatic development of language groups at different proficiency levels and investigate the relationship between interlanguage pragmatics and grammatical competence. For this study, 36 native Spanish speaking EFL learners at different proficiency levels were asked to respond in English to 24 different situations which called for the speech acts of request and apology. Their English performances were compared to those of 12 American English native speakers in order to provide base-line cultural data. Thirty six Mexican Spanish native speakers also participated as a control group in order to analyse the role of the mother tongue in the performances of the EFL learners. The data, collected using a carton oral production task (COPT), were analysed quantitatively and qualitatively. Results showed three important findings that illuminate the relationship between pragmatic development and grammatical competence and lent support to Kasper and Rose's (2003) claim of a universal pragmatic principle. The first finding suggested that basic adult learners possess a previous pragmatic knowledge in their L1 that allows them to focus on the intended meaning and, in most cases, and to assemble (from the linguistic structures available to them) an utterance that conveys a pragmatic intention and satisfies the communicative demands of a social situation. The second finding revealed that there are two essential conditions to communicate a linguistic action: the knowledge of the relevant linguistic rules and the knowledge of how to use them appropriately and effectively in a specific context. Without an elementary knowledge of the linguistic rules, it is impossible to select the forms to realize a speech act in a target-like manner. The findings further suggested that advanced learners possess the grammatical knowledge to produce an illocutionary act, but they need to learn the specific L2 pragmatic conventions that enable them to know when to use these grammatical forms and under what circumstances. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / xi, 238 p. ill

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / El uso del cine en el aula provee a los estudiantes oportunidades visuales en combinación con las auditivas de oír la lengua meta con las sutilezas y los matices de los hispanohablantes. Es decir, el cine les proporciona la inmersión en la lengua auténtica. Las imágenes les permiten a los estudiantes sentirse parte del país, involucrados con las personas, las situaciones y las circunstancias de la vida cotidiana.

Este trabalho tem como objetivo propor um diálogo entre a leitura do Quixote em contexto escolar e os estudos literários, por meio da análise do processo de transferência da obra canônica de Miguel de Cervantes para o sistema literário infantil. Apontamos, neste percurso, as principais questões, enfrentadas tanto por adaptadores da obra quanto por educadores, no que tange à complexa tarefa de colocar a obra ao alcance dos leitores infantojuvenis. Esta pesquisa permite discutir aspectos textuais, históricos e culturais das adaptações, além de sugerir uma abordagem prática da introdução do Quixote em contexto escolar que estimule o empoderamento do leitor infantojuvenil, resgatando seu papel de leitor ativo na própria narrativa cervantina. Palavras-chave: Dom Quixote de la Mancha, Escolarização da leitura, Ensino de espanhol, Adaptação, Literatura infantojuvenil, Formação do leitor, Empoderamento do leitor, Literatura espanhola século de ouro, Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616), Recepção de Quixote / This research aims to propose a dialogue between the reading of Quixote in the school context and the literary studies, analyzing it by the process of transferring the Miguel de Cervantes canonical book to the childrens literary system. We focus on the main issues, faced by adapters and educators, in the complex task of providing the work to the childrens readers. This thesis allows us to discuss textual, historical and cultural aspects of the adaptations, as well as it suggests a practical approach to use of the Quixote in the school context, stimulating the empowerment of the childrens reader, and resignifying their active role in the Cervantes narrative.

The author of this doctoral thesis Theoretical basis of developing and evaluating worksheets for foreign language teaching with a focus on the Spanish language attempts to describe the current situation regarding the creation of worksheets. He highlights the fact that there is no theoretical basis for their production, and no evaluation of the quality and application of these worksheets in the teaching of Spanish. He also outlines ways how to solve this deficit and potential problems in the process of investigation into this topic. The main aim of this dissertation is to analyse the worksheets as a supplementary teaching material and to describe the whole process of their adoption, adaptation, creation, usage, evaluation, revision and actualization. Although the teachers usually complement their usual textbook with autonomous supplementary materials, the lack of methodology or empirical research on this topic is evident. In theoretical part of this doctoral thesis all available sources will be analysed and the emphasis will be put on comparing rules of the textbooks creation to worksheets creation in order to put together relevant information. The similar principles will be highlighted and also differences will be mentioned. Moreover, methods of creating and evaluating worksheets will be...

Este trabalho tem como objetivo propor um diálogo entre a leitura do Quixote em contexto escolar e os estudos literários, por meio da análise do processo de transferência da obra canônica de Miguel de Cervantes para o sistema literário infantil. Apontamos, neste percurso, as principais questões, enfrentadas tanto por adaptadores da obra quanto por educadores, no que tange à complexa tarefa de colocar a obra ao alcance dos leitores infantojuvenis. Esta pesquisa permite discutir aspectos textuais, históricos e culturais das adaptações, além de sugerir uma abordagem prática da introdução do Quixote em contexto escolar que estimule o empoderamento do leitor infantojuvenil, resgatando seu papel de leitor ativo na própria narrativa cervantina. Palavras-chave: Dom Quixote de la Mancha, Escolarização da leitura, Ensino de espanhol, Adaptação, Literatura infantojuvenil, Formação do leitor, Empoderamento do leitor, Literatura espanhola século de ouro, Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616), Recepção de Quixote / This research aims to propose a dialogue between the reading of Quixote in the school context and the literary studies, analyzing it by the process of transferring the Miguel de Cervantes canonical book to the childrens literary system. We focus on the main issues, faced by adapters and educators, in the complex task of providing the work to the childrens readers. This thesis allows us to discuss textual, historical and cultural aspects of the adaptations, as well as it suggests a practical approach to use of the Quixote in the school context, stimulating the empowerment of the childrens reader, and resignifying their active role in the Cervantes narrative.

In this thesis, I examine the resistance, privileges, and costs of Chicana textual identity issues in an academic arena that, by design, fragments voice and dictates choice. The scarcity in research of Chicana identity through mixed-language writing in composition depicts an existing chasm between academic demographics and university sentiments. Educational institutions that neglect to investigate, engage, and participate in textual identity perpetuate accepted pensamiento. Therefore, insight to Chicana thought, culture, and educational experiences may assist and inform the teaching dominant culture, not to separate, but to conjoin information with experience for those seeking diversity.

El propósito de este trabajo ha sido investigar cómo se correlaciona el deseo de comunicarse con tres factores afectivos: la motivación, la ansiedad lingüística y la actitud hacia la lengua meta. Para indagar lo mencionado, en el objetivo se ha tomado como punto de partida las siguientes preguntas: ¿cómo se correlaciona la motivación con el deseo de comunicarse en español como lengua extranjera?, ¿de qué manera se correlaciona la ansiedad lingüística con el deseo de comunicarse en español como lengua extranjera? y finalmente, ¿cómo se correlaciona la actitud hacia el español con el deseo de comunicarse en español como lengua extranjera? Nuestra hipótesis a la primera pregunta es que creemos que una alta motivación se correlaciona positivamente con un alto deseo de comunicarse. Un bajo deseo de comunicarse estará correlacionado, a su vez, con una baja motivación. La segunda hipótesis es que creemos que una alta ansiedad lingüística se correlaciona con un bajo deseo de comunicarse. Una baja ansiedad lingüística se correlaciona, a su vez, con un alto deseo de comunicarse. La tercera y última hipótesis plantea que creemos que una actitud positiva hacia el español (un valor alto) se correlacionará con un alto deseo de comunicarse. Una actitud negativa se correlacionará, a su vez, con un bajo deseo de comunicarse.  Hemos optado por utilizar un método cuantitativo a través de una encuesta que evalúa las percepciones de 65 alumnos que estudian español como lengua extranjera en los pasos 3, 4 y 5, lo que corresponde con las etapas A2 y B1 de acuerdo con el MCER. El cuestionario contiene, en total, 22 afirmaciones sobre las actitudes hacia el español, la motivación, el deseo de comunicarse y la ansiedad lingüística. Mediante las respuestas a las afirmaciones en la encuesta hicimos pruebas estadísticas de acuerdo con el Chi-Square para determinar posibles correlaciones. Nuestros resultados mostraron que hay una positiva y fuerte correlación entre la motivación y el deseo de comunicarse, que no hay ninguna correlación notable entre la ansiedad lingüística y el deseo de comunicarse y finalmente que hay una correlación fuerte/media entre la actitud hacia la lengua y el deseo de comunicarse. / The purpose of this work has been to investigate how the willingness to communicate correlates with three affective factors: motivation, linguistic anxiety, and the attitude towards the target language. To investigate what was mentioned in the purpose, the following questions have been posed: How is motivation correlated with the willingness to communicate in Spanish as a foreign language? In what way is linguistic anxiety correlated with the willingness to communicate in Spanish as a foreign language? And finally, how is the attitude towards Spanish correlated with the willingness to communicate in it as a foreign language?  Our hypothesis to the first question was: we believe that high motivation is positively correlated with a high willingness to communicate. A low willingness to communicate will be correlated with low motivation. The second hypothesis was: we believe that a high linguistic anxiety correlates with a low willingness to communicate. A low linguistic anxiety correlates with a high willingness to communicate. The third and last hypothesis was: we believe that a positive attitude towards Spanish correlates with a high willingness to communicate. A negative attitude will correlate with a low willingness to communicate. We have chosen to use a quantitative method through a survey that evaluates the perceptions of 65 students studying Spanish as a foreign language in the steps 3, 4 and 5 that correspond to the stages A2 and B1 according to the CEFR. The questionnaire contains, in total, 22 statements about attitudes towards Spanish, motivation, desire to communicate and language anxiety. Using the responses to the statements in the survey, we performed statistical tests according to the Chi-Square to determine possible correlations. Our results showed that there is a positive and strong correlation between motivation and the willingness to communicate, that there is no notable correlation between language anxiety and the willingness to communicate, and finally that there is a positive strong/medium correlation between attitude towards the language and the willingness to communicate.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Cotidianamente los profesores se hacen esta pregunta: ¿cómo pueden relacionarse mis estudiantes con la lección? Saben que si los estudiantes pudieran acoplarse con el contenido de la lección, entenderían y aprenderían con gran eficacia. En la mayoría de los distritos escolares urbanos de Indianapolis, Estados Unidos hay muchos estudiantes afroamericanos que están en clases de lengua extranjera que piensan que no existen atributos de conexión --como tradiciones y costumbres-- que tienen aspectos en común con sus propias culturas. Por otro lado, hay estudiantes afrolatinos que son nativos de esas lenguas pero a quienes no se les expone a elementos que pertenecen a su cultura o herencia. Esta investigación se enfocará en cómo los profesores pueden utilizar la poesía para enseñar una lengua extranjera; específicamente, cómo se puede utilizar la poesía afrocubana para vincular la lección a los estudiantes minoritarios y su cultura.