Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:24:50Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2011-05-23Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T20:13:13Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 azevedo_hl_me_bauru.pdf: 853160 bytes, checksum: 638d0528cd74904442f96093f90ad914 (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / O presente trabalho visou investigar as posturas adotadas por futuros professores diante de modelos não científicos (religiosos) apresentados por alunos sobre as origens do Universo. Para tanto, foi realizada uma entrevista com 9 (nove) licenciandos de um curso de Física, por meio da qual se buscou identificar, principalmente, a expectativa que tais professores demonstraram quanto à contribuição (ou não) do levantamento de tais modelos durante a aula por parte dos alunos. Para referenciar nossa discussão, adotamos as reflexões do filósofo alemão Jürgen Harbermas sobre o relacionamento político que deve regular as relações entre uma cultura secularista e as diversas culturas religiosas. Tivemos a oportunidade de constatar que todos os licenciados procuraram apresentar tolerância quanto às idéias religiosas dos alunos. Esta atitude de tolerância, entretanto, ainda não chega a constituir, na perspectiva de Habermas, uma atitude que promova uma busca conjunta de soluções para questões controversas da sociedade. Porém, para além dessa atitude de tolerância, mais da metade deles revelou acreditar que a manifestação dessas concepções poderia trazer contribuições para a discussão em sala de aula. Os resultados apontaram no sentido de que a utilização de práticas pedagógicas baseadas na comunicação, no questionamento e no diálogo, em disciplinas do curso de licenciatura concluído pelos futuros professores, tem gerado uma apropriação por parte dos licenciados destas práticas, e sua potencial aplicação posterior em outras situações e discussões, inclusive a inter-religiosa. / This study aimed at investigating the positions taken by future teachers towards the non scientific models presented by students about the origins of the universe. In order to do that, an interview was conducted with 9 (nine) students of a physics teching training course. The study sought to identity, among other things, the expectation of those teachers about the contribution (or not) of the introduction of such models in classrooms. To orientate our discussion, we adopt a framework the ideas of German philosopher Jürgen Habermas on the political relationship that should govern relations between a naturalistic culture and different religious cultures. We were able to show that all future teachers have sought to show tolerance towards the religious ideas of the students. This attitude of tolerance, however, still no enough to constitute, in Habermas's view, an attitude that pomotes a joint search for solutions to controversial issues of society. However, beyond this attitude of tolerance, more than half of future teachers revealed believe that the manifestation of these concepts could bring contributions to the discussion in the classroom. The results pointed towards that the use of teaching practices, based on communication, questioning and dialogue in disciplines of the degree course completed by future teachers, has created in them an ownership of these practices and their potential appliction in other discussions, including inter-religious discussions.

Submitted by Luís Carlos Viana Júnior null (binguinha_viana@hotmail.com) on 2017-09-12T17:01:53Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Versão Final Diseertação Luís Carlos Viana Júnior.pdf: 2316901 bytes, checksum: 2eb52a273aba1b25ee4909a6d0a36e70 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Monique Sasaki (sayumi_sasaki@hotmail.com) on 2017-09-12T18:09:06Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 vianajunior_lc_me_arafcl.pdf: 2316901 bytes, checksum: 2eb52a273aba1b25ee4909a6d0a36e70 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-09-12T18:09:06Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 vianajunior_lc_me_arafcl.pdf: 2316901 bytes, checksum: 2eb52a273aba1b25ee4909a6d0a36e70 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-07-14 / Na presente pesquisa, partimos da premissa de que ao desenvolver a competência humorística em alunos de língua estrangeira (LE) enriquece-se o trabalho com a competência comunicativa. Assim, nosso objetivo é analisar como esse processo ocorre no ensino de espanhol como língua estrangeira (ELE) a alunos brasileiros. Para tanto, temos como base teórica Raskin (1985), o qual disserta sobre a competência humorística relacionando-a com os escritos de Grice (1975) sobre princípios próprios dos estudos pragmáticos. Ademais, discutimos sobre a competência comunicativa (HYMES, 1971), além dos conhecimentos e habilidades que a constituem, baseando-nos em teorias de autores como Canale e Swain (1980) e Bachman (1990), que aplicaram esses conceitos ao ensino de LE. A partir dessas teorias, observamos que há uma junção de diversos aspectos para que um interlocutor seja eficaz nas situações comunicativas com que se possa deparar. Portanto, no ensino de LE, é necessária uma ação que supere os limites da ênfase na estrutura (competência linguística) e que incorpore ao ensino de LE os princípios da Pragmática, na busca por aproximar o contexto de aprendizagem ao contexto de uso da língua. Com base nesses preceitos, analisamos duas coleções didáticas de espanhol, aprovadas em 2015 no Programa Nacional do Livro Didático (PNLD), para verificar como o humor é apresentado e se essas propostas permitem o desenvolvimento da competência humorística e, consequentemente, da competência comunicativa nos estudantes. Na análise, em um primeiro momento, realizamos um levantamento da presença dos enunciados humorísticos, destacando em quais gêneros textuais e em que estágio da aprendizagem do estudante são mais recorrentes, bem como quais as tipologias de humor, de acordo com a classificação de Raskin (1985), estão presentes. Encontramos uma variedade bastante escassa de gêneros e tipologias, que, em sua maioria, eram vinhetas que traziam o humor étnico. Apesar de observarmos o humor apresentado nas obras didáticas com o viés da repressão, também havia casos em que aparecia como crítica a outros problemas socioculturais. Finalmente, segundo o Guia dos Livros Didáticos 2015, que apresenta os critérios para a seleção das coleções didáticas, os livros devem expor as relações entre as culturas hispanofalantes e a brasileira, o que, conforme constatamos, ocorre nos enunciados humorísticos. No entanto, a falta de enunciados mais específicos das culturas hispanofalantes de forma que o estudante tenha contato com outras esferas culturais é um ponto negativo nos livros analisados. Com isso, concluímos que a competência humorística ainda pode ser melhor adequada e aproveitada nas séries didáticas e observamos ganhos quando é desenvolvida concomitantemente com outras competências, pois promove o desenvolvimento da competência comunicativa como um todo. / This research begins with the premise that the developing of humor competence in foreign language teaching can enrich the communicative competence. Thus, our objective is to analyze how this process occurs in the teaching of Spanish as a foreign language in Brazilian students. Therefore, our theory will be based on Raskin (1985), who writes about humorous competence related to Grice’s thoughts (1975) about pragmatic principles. In addition, we have discussed what Hymes (1971) named as communicative competence, aside from knowledge and skills which compose it. In this regard, we will search theories that apply these thoughts in the teaching of foreign languages, for example, Canale and Swain (1980) and Bachman (1990). Departing from these theories, it is possible to realize the involvement of various knowledge and important skills to make an efficient interlocutor in his/her communicative situations. Consequently, it is necessary an action that goes beyond the emphasis in the structure (linguistic competence) and that increases the pragmatic principles in the teaching of foreign languages in order to approximate the learning context and the contexts of language usage. From all these precepts, an analysis of Spanish teaching textbooks (approved in 2015 by the Programa Nacional do Livro Didático) was made, in order to verify how humor is presented in these educational series and if this is an efficient way to develop the humorous competence and also the students’ communicative skills. That is, it is necessary to understand how the textbook presents humor and if this method enables the student of foreign languages to develop humorous competence. In the analisys, first of all, we conducted a survey regarding the presence of humor at which textual genre, stage and each typology taking (Raskin, 1985) as a theoretical basis. And we found a rather scarce variety of genres and typologies - mostly vignettes containing ethnical humor. We also noticed that humor must be used with caution and responsibility in the didactic series, since it has the power of repression. However, it can also be used as a correction for many sociocultural problems as it has happened in this work in one of the analyzed collections. However, in none of the collections there was an effective work that divided the development of humorous competence during a book, because the statements were only concentrated in a single stage of the process. At the same time, the qualitative analysis has brought quite relevant results, because despite the small variety of humorous statements, a work of exploration of the genres was done. Finally, according to the Guia de Livros Didáticos 2015 which presents the criteria for the selection of these didactic series, the books should present the links between the Spanish and Brazilian cultures, and this was made in the humoristic statements. However, the lack of more specific statements of Spanish-speaking cultures, relevant to the students to have more contact with other cultural spheres, is a negative aspect of such material. With that being said, we come to the conclusion that the humorous competence can still be better worked out and used in the didactic series and that nowadays, it already shows great gains when it is utilized concomitantly with other competences, because it promotes the development of the entire communicative competences.

The aim of this paper is to examine the different learning strategies among the students of primary and upper-secondary schools and their use by developing the different proficiencies of modern languages. This study will also try to clarify if and how these strategies differ between the students of primary and upper-secondary schools and what cognitive, metacognitive and social effective aspects lie beyond these differences. The data used in the presented paper is previous research made on different learning strategies and their use in the modern language education in primary and upper secondary schools. This paper also uses a number of interviews with the pupils from primary and upper-secondary schools in order to illustrate if and how the use of their strategies differs and what aspects contribute to this difference.

nÃo hà / Esta pesquisa tem como objetivo analisar os Objetos de Aprendizagem criados para o ensino de lÃngua inglesa/LE disponÃveis no repositÃrio BIOE com o intuito de verificar se esses OA podem ser classificados como Objetos de Aprendizagem de LÃnguas e, desse modo, podem ser usados como recursos que desenvolvam a CompetÃncia Comunicativa. Buscamos ainda, evidenciar e descrever se esses Objetos, sejam OA ou OAL, incorporam caracterÃsticas de interatividade e de uma aprendizagem individualizada. Para essa anÃlise, utilizamos uma adaptaÃÃo do instrumento criado por Borges (2006) que foi desenvolvido para avaliar se softwares educacionais de ensino de lÃnguas desenvolvem a CompetÃncia Comunicativa (CC) do aprendiz. Por tratarmos de OA(L), nosso objeto de estudo à menor do que um software educacional que à mais complexo e, por isso, tivemos que adaptar o instrumento de anÃlise. Ainda assim, mantivemos as trÃs partes do instrumento que analisam, respectivamente, as caracterÃsticas tÃcnicas, com foco na interatividade; as caracterÃsticas pedagÃgicas, com foco no desenvolvimento da CompetÃncia Comunicativa; e as caracterÃsticas de aprendizagem individualizada que busca obter dados sobre a contribuiÃÃo desses OA(L) para o desenvolvimento da autonomia do aprendiz. Os resultados revelaram um nÃmero muito reduzido de OAL e que esses Objetos apresentam o potencial de desenvolvimento da CC e, por incorporarem elementos de interatividade, demonstram um potencial motivacional significativo. No entanto, os Objetos analisados mostraram que, dificilmente, hà uma preocupaÃÃo em incorporar caracterÃstica da aprendizagem individualizada que promova a autonomia do aprendiz. / This study aims at analyzing Learning Objects created to teach English as a foreign language available in the repository BIOE in order to verify whether these Objects can be classified as Language Learning Objects and, thus, could be used as resources to develop the learnerâs communicative competence. Besides, we also intend to investigate whether the Objects incorporate characteristics of interactivity and independent learning. To analyze the Objects, we use an instrument developed by Borges (2006) that was originally created to analyze whether ESL/EFL software incorporate principles of the Communicative Language Teaching. Since our object of study is much smaller than and educational software, the instrument had to be adapted. Yet, the original three parts of the instrument were used in this research in order to analyze the technical characteristics focusing on motivation; the pedagogical characteristics focusing on the development of the communicative competence; and characteristics of individualized learning focusing on the development of learnerâs autonomy. The results show that there is a very small amount of Language Learning Objects available in the repository and that the Objects analyzed do have the potential to develop the communicative competence when used as resources, and since they have a significant level of interactivity, they motivate students to learn. However, this study displays that there is no concern about creating Language Learning Objects that incorporate characteristics of individualized learning that contributes to developing learnerâs autonomy.

Submitted by Aline Batista (alinehb.ufpel@gmail.com) on 2018-07-17T18:54:13Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Dissertacao_Maria_Eduarda_Motta_dos_Santos.pdf: 5877778 bytes, checksum: 399952e24852000cf946eace466c080f (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Aline Batista (alinehb.ufpel@gmail.com) on 2018-07-17T21:25:04Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Dissertacao_Maria_Eduarda_Motta_dos_Santos.pdf: 5877778 bytes, checksum: 399952e24852000cf946eace466c080f (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-07-17T21:25:11Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Dissertacao_Maria_Eduarda_Motta_dos_Santos.pdf: 5877778 bytes, checksum: 399952e24852000cf946eace466c080f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-02-27 / Sem bolsa / As novas tecnologias predominam no cotidiano de todos e o ensino-aprendizagem está inovando para acompanhar esta constante evolução. Uma das novidades é a gamificação, que trata de colocar características de jogos em atividades que não são jogos, já que os games se mostram bastante atrativos, principalmente para os jovens. Aplicativos e sites online para aprender línguas já utilizam a gamificação como um modo de melhorar suas atividades e motivar mais os estudantes. Assim, este trabalho é uma análise de atividades gamificadas para a aprendizagem de língua inglesa em aplicativos e plataformas online que busca observar e identificar quais elementos dos games estão presentes e que princípios metodológicos são utilizados. Para isso, tem-se como base teórica, além de estudos dos novos letramentos, os dezesseis princípios dos bons jogos de Gee (2005), que tratam de elementos atuantes em bons jogos para a aprendizagem, e as seis competências comunicativas apresentadas por Celce-Murcia (2007), que é uma abordagem que defende um ensino focado não apenas em questões gramaticais da língua, mas também em aspectos comunicativos e de compreensão. Este também é considerado um dos pilares teóricos mais abrangentes para o ensino de línguas. As atividades analisadas foram retiradas de duas plataformas diferentes, o Duolingo, que é um aplicativo gamificado de celular para aprendizagem de línguas, e o ELO, que é um site de livre acesso no qual professores criam atividades para a aprendizagem de línguas. Como trata-se de uma pesquisa qualitativa, a análise se deu por meio de interpretação evidenciada com base nas teorias definidas que mostra quais princípios e competências estão potencialmente fomentadas nas atividades. A partir das análises, constatou-se que as atividades do Duolingo propõem um ensino estrutural da língua, com uma preocupação maior em relação ao design e aparência do que com metodologia de ensino, sem indícios da competência comunicativa como um todo, enquanto as atividades do ELO proporcionam um ensino mais contextualizado, com características que abrangem boa parte dos bons jogos e a competência comunicativa. / The new technologies are prevalent in the routine of everyone, and the teaching and learning process is innovating to follow this constant evolution. One of these novelties is gamification, which is putting game characteristics on activities that are not games, since they seem to be very attractive, mainly to young people. Apps and online websites to learn languages already use gamification as a manner to improve their activities and motivate the students. Thus, this research is an analysis of gamified activities to learn English language in online websites and apps, which seeks observe and identify what elements of games are presented and which methodological principles are used. To achieve this, it has as theoretical basis, besides new literacies research, the sixteen good games principles by Gee (2005) that are about the elements present in good games to learn. Also the six communicative competences by Celce-Murcia (2007), which is an approach that defends a teaching not only focused on grammatical issues of language but also on comprehension and communicative aspects. In addition, this is considered one of the most embracing theoretical pillars to language teaching. The activities to be analyzed were taken from two different sites, the Duolingo, that is a gamified smartphone app to language learning, and ELO, that is a free access website in which teachers create activities to language learning. Since this is about a qualitative research, the analysis will occur through interpretation based on the defined theories that will show which principles are potentially fomented in the activities. Based on the analysis, it was found that the Duolingo’s activities propose a structural language teaching along with a bigger concern about design and appearance than teaching methodology, without indications of communicative competence as a whole, while the ELO’s activities provide a more contextualized teaching and characteristics that include a great part of the good games and the communicative competence.

Orientadores: Tania Maria Alkmin, Maria Irma Hadler Coudry / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-08T15:52:58Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Sampaio_NirvanaFerrazSantos_D.pdf: 964394 bytes, checksum: 1423bb24e495604bc03780233031e1bc (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006 / Resumo: Neste trabalho, investigamos o Centro de Convivência de Afásicos (CCA). Defendemos: a) que o CCA é uma comunidade de fala que se caracteriza pela prática clínica que relaciona língua(gem), cultura e sociedade e pela construção do saber dessa prática na relação entre língua(gem), cultura e sociedade; b) que nas situações comunicativas e eventos comunicativos em que se engajam os sujeitos cérebros-lesados no CCA, a língua(gem) apresenta-se constitutivamente incompleta, falha e heterogênea, características da ordem própria e estrutural da língua quando usada também pelos sujeitos não-cérebros-lesados; c) que a atitude dos sujeitos cérebros-lesados inseridos no CCA é de permanecerem como sujeitos de linguagem na sociedade; d) e que a atitude dos pesquisadores é a de inserir os sujeitos cérebros-lesados em eventos comunicativos, através da prática clínica em que não se separa língua(gem), cultura e sociedade. Para tanto, com base em conceitos e postulados teóricos dos quadros teóricos da Etnografia da Comunicação, aliados a conceitos e postulados da Neurolingüística Discursiva, analisamos o corpus da pesquisa, constituído de transcrições de gravações de situações comunicativas e eventos comunicativos vivenciados entre 2002 e 2004, no Grupo II do CCA. Os resultados indicam que, ao lado dos sujeitos não afásicos do CCA, os sujeitos afásicos, inseridos nessa comunidade de fala, são levados a enfrentar a afasia, agindo com e sobre a linguagem, a partir de repertório comunicativo variado que inclui recursos lingüísticos e não lingüísticos, em diferentes situações discursivas/comunicativas e eventos discursivos/comunicativos. / Abstract: In this work we examine the Centro de Convivência de Afásicos (CCA). We argue that: a) the CCA is a speech community which is characterized by clinical practice that relates language, culture and society and by the knowledge construction of this practice in the relationship between language, culture and society; b) in communicative situations and communicative events in which the brain damage subjects at CCA are engaged, the language is incomplete, defective and heterogeneous, characteristics considered as being part of the language proper order and structure when used by subjects without brain damage as well; c) the attitude of the brain damage subjects who are at the CCA is to remain as subjects of language in society; d) the researchers attitude is to insert the brain damage subjects in communicative events through clinical practice where language, culture and society are not to be separated. Thus, based upon theoretical concepts and postulates of the Ethnography of Communication?s theoretical framework and concepts and postulates of Discursive Neurolinguistics, we have analyzed the research corpus which is constituted of recording transcriptions from communicative situations and communicative events realized from 2002 to 2004 at CCA?s Group II. The results suggests that as the non-aphasics-subjects at CCA, the aphasic ones who are part of this speech community face aphasia by acting with and about the language, using linguistic and non-linguistic resources in different discursive/communicative situations and discursive/communicative events. / Doutorado / Doutor em Linguística

The print literacy competencies of many South African teachers and the learners they teach are inadequate. Evidence from local and international evaluations and research attests to this. Based on the understanding that a teacher, whose literacy level is less than adequate, is in a weak position to teach others how to read and write, the imperative to systematically address the issue of poor teacher and learner literacy levels, provided the impetus for a careful investigation of the methodology and theory of the Learning to Read: Reading to Learn pedagogy. Originally developed in Australia and applied in primary, secondary and tertiary contexts, this literacy pedagogy was described as a means of rapidly improving the literacy competence of all learners, across all subject areas. Using an approach located within the tradition of interpretative educational theory, the meaning of the theory and practice of the Learning to Read: Reading to Learn pedagogy was explored. As a result of the enquiry undertaken, it was found that the Learning to Read: Reading to Learn approach provides a practical means of enhancing epistemological access. Access of this nature is a precondition for success of learning in schools and in tertiary education. The LR:RL pedagogy provides a carefully structured means of holding literacy at the centre of learning. The sequence of practical steps theoretically rooted in three powerful – but usually separate realms of discourse, is a central contribution of the pedagogy to field of literacy development. Intersecting three discrete disciplines, represented by Bernstein’s model of education as pedagogic discourse, Vygotsky’s model of learning as a social process and Halliday’s model of language as text in social context gives rise to a unique literacy pedagogy. The theory that emerges from use, in a range of situations, over many years, and the carefully sequenced practice, together offer a sound means of addressing the challenges of literacy and learning prevalent in the South African context. iii This thesis argues for a reading based theory of teaching as a means of meeting the challenges of literacy and learning head on. The capacity to learn independently from written text is critical for progress within the schooling and tertiary systems. The Learning to Read: Reading to Learn pedagogy provides a means of realizing such a theory of teaching. Simultaneously teaching print literacy, while teaching the content of curricula, is proposed as a way of bringing about effective learning. Within the context of teacher education, the pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) of many teachers is acknowledged to be inadequate. However, there is a key dimension missing for the construct of PCK to be truly useful for South African teachers. Print literacy is as an essential determinant of the knowledge of teachers. The construct of PCK can thus supplemented by foregrounding reading and writing as essential elements of this category of teacher knowledge. Thus the content of the teacher education curriculum is taught as the reading and writing competence of teachers is developed. Similarly, within the school context, the Learning to Read: Reading to Learn pedagogy can be used to teach required content and teach the requisite high level reading and writing skills needed by all learners to progress successfully through the schooling system.

Cette étude traite des écueils de communication que rencontrent les apprenants de l’anglais langue étrangère dans l’enseignement secondaire en Tunisie, et à partir de ces constats, propose quelques recommandations susceptibles de les aider à surmonter ces obstacles.Il s’est avéré que ces difficultés de communication ont pour origine deux facteurs principaux: le manque d’exposition à l’anglais et l’inadéquation de certaines méthodes pédagogiques.En effet, l’anglais semble être enseigné tout simplement comme une matière scolaire. Les apprenants ne sont exposés à cette langue qu’en milieu institutionnel, et ce pendant seulement quelques heures par semaine.Il faut noter, par ailleurs, l’inadéquation de certaines méthodes pédagogiques: le recours à la langue maternelle dans l’enseignement de l’anglais en est un exemple. Ceci est une technique qui s’est révélée plus nuisible que bénéfique du fait qu’elle est souvent utilisée uniquement pour expliquer des termes lexicaux et des structures syntaxiques difficiles.Quant à l’approche communicative, elle n’a pas permis d’atteindre les objectifs d’apprentissage escomptés en raison de certaines contraintes sérieuses qui ont entravé sa mise en application.Le fait que cette approche mette l’accent sur le sens aux dépens de la forme et donne la priorité à l’expression orale au détriment de l’expression écrite d’une part, ainsi que les classes nombreuses et le manque ou l’indisponibilité de matériaux pédagogiques, d’autre part, sont d’autres éléments qui ne favorisent pas l’apprentissage.Outre ces facteurs, on remarque également l’absence quasi‐totale de cours théoriques sur les diverses compétences à acquérir avant que ne débute l’apprentissage de la langue étrangère.Donc, afin d’aider les apprenants à progresser dans leur apprentissage et de contribuer à l’amélioration de leur compétence communicative, il serait utile de créer un environnement anglophone au lycée même et dans la mesure du possible, à l’extérieur de l’institution. Il serait également pertinent d’adopter des approches diversifiées et attacher davantage d’importance aux leçons théoriques en parallèle avec l’enseignement pratique. / This study explores the whys and wherefores of the communication difficulties experienced by Tunisian secondary school learners of English as a foreign language, and aims at offering ways out of the issue.It has been demonstrated that the issue proceeds broadly from the woeful dearth of exposure to and practice of the language and certain inadequacies of the teaching methodology.English seems to be learned as a mere curricular discipline, in that students have only a few weekly sessions confined solely to a classroom setting.The inadequacies of the teaching methodology are manifest in a number of aspects. The use of the mother tongue in EFL classes has proved to generate more harm than good. In the very framework, it has also been revealed that Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) has not been at the level of the expected outcome. Two CLT principal principles, focus on meaning to the detriment of form, and prioritizing oral fluency over written proficiency, as well as certain constraints, mainly the severe lack of instructional materials and large classes have intervened with its successful implementation in EFL classes. An added factor related to teaching methodology is the quasi‐absence of theoretical teaching as a prerequisite for the success of specific learning activities.Accordingly, exposing learners profusely to English in various ways inside and outside the classroom, adopting an only‐English eclectic approach to teaching the language, and combining theoretical instruction with practical teaching can considerably contribute to surmounting the students’ learning difficulties, and hence to the achievement of their communicative competence.

This thesis, SPEECH ACT THEORY AND COMMUNICATION: A UNIVEN STUDY, is an investigation into the communicative competence of a group of second language speakers. The study employs Speech Act Theory, a discourse evaluation method within the cross-cultural paradigm, to ascertain the structural (form) and the pragmatic (function) statuses of selected utterances of entry-level students in the University of Venda for Science and Technology (Univen). Speech Act Theory is a concept premised on the notion that an utterance has a definite function, meaning or purpose, for example, to suggest, to advise, to complain; and that these functions are expressible in established structural codes. Implicit in this notion is the assertion that there is a correlation between the ‘form’ and the ‘function’ of utterances. The corollary to this is that, where there is no correlation, miscommunication may result. The contention of this study is that such a correlation may not always exist in the utterances of second language users of English because of the idiosyncratic nature of such utterances, derived from syntactic, semantic and pragmatic factors. The hypothesis continues to assert that despite the individualistic nature of these utterances, meaning can be created or miscommunication does not always result because hearers are able to accurately interpret the intention of the speakers, by exploiting notions such as implicature, conversation principles, context and prosodic features. This research is an attempt to identify the processes that speakers undergo to articulate their intentions and the verbal and non-verbal information that hearers require to interpret such intentions or messages. The quality of the processes of formulating intentions and interpreting them is directly dependent on the communicative ability of the interlocutors. Communicative ability is a very general term, inclusive of various abilities of the interlocutors amongst which are grammatical and pragmatic competences. Meaning is dynamic, flexible and dependent on negotiation among the interlocutors. This flexibility of meaning is even more pronounced when idiosyncratic utterances, such as those of second-language speakers, are examined. To ascertain how meaning is created from such individualistic utterances, an analysis of selected utterances was conducted along the principles of Speech Act Theory. The results of the analysis supported the hypothesis that, although different categories of blemishes are visible in these utterances, such characteristics do not always affect the interpretation process, indicating that a variety of non-linguistic clues is also required for communication. Conclusions reached include the fact that, even though both grammatical and pragmatic considerations are vital for the quality of the utterances, perhaps, Speech Act Theory does not make sufficient provision for blemished but meaning-bearing utterances, like those usually produced by second language users and the kind selected for this investigation. This observation also impinges on the validity of Speech Act Theory as the sole judge of communicative competence of second-language users. / Thesis (D.Litt (English))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / English / unrestricted

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of the communication competence of supervisors upon an employee's job satisfaction. Results obtained supported the 5 hypotheses proposed. Findings indicated the importance of supervisory communication responsiveness in areas of listening, sensitivity, and expression of interest in subordinate's ideas and concerns in ensuring satisfaction with supervision received. Support was also generated for the value of an "open" communication climate where continual feedback and idea exchange interact to produce organizational identification. Significant relationships were found to exist between communication climate and dimensions of the JDI: satisfaction with supervisor, work satisfaction, pay satisfaction, satisfaction with promotion opportunities, satisfaction with coworkers. Finally, communication skills training for supervisors was recommended to animate organizational growth and development.