Charles-Valentin Alkan (1813–1888) was a French composer and virtuoso pianist. His music writing covers many genres. His major works are extremely difficult to play and decipher, due to their length and heavy texture. But his collection of miniatures called Esquisses is a hidden treasure. The range of this work is vast: it includes short character pieces in various styles and genres, from pre-Baroque to Impressionism. Alkan showed his mature compositional skill, endless creativity in these pieces. This work can be classified into eight unique styles. I choose one piece from each style to give a thorough analysis of Alkan's musical language and guidance either technical or musically challenging passages. I hope this dissertation can assist both teachers and students in learning this underrated work.

Classrooms in Sweden are heterogeneous and this is acknowledged in the curriculum, stating that all students have an equal right to education at their own level. Teachers must, therefore, design their teaching plan taking this into account. Previous investigations have shown that the Swedish schools do not fulfill this completely for advanced students. The objective of this study was to examine how Swedish teachers differentiate their English as foreign language (EFL) lessons to reach the advanced English students in the lower grades, what challenges they experiences and how they assess the students’ learning outcomes. Information was obtained through a survey and semi-structured interviews with preschool class and grade 1-3 teachers. The survey and question about participation in an interview, was emailed to schools in 74 randomly chosen municipalities all across Sweden. A total of 156 answers to the survey and five interviews are included in the analyses. The results show that the majority of teachers with experience of advanced students differentiate instruction, by using several different strategies; they experience several challenges, the heterogeneous class room as the most common; and, they assess that differentiated instruction has a small positive effect on the advanced students’ learning outcomes in general.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T20:25:08Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 3513.pdf: 2634412 bytes, checksum: 9a81eaec340178d87560b5a0ef24e00b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-02-24 / Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos / This Master Degree‟s research consists of an ethnographic investigation which is concerned with the study of issues related to interaction in a foreign language (FL), focusing on cultural differences and cultural stereotypes existing not only in interaction in broad social contexts, but also in the teaching-learning process of a FL. This way, relying mainly on the studies by Hall (1959), Kramsch (1993, 1998), Viana (2003) and Barbosa (2008), we aimed at discussing the occurrence of fixed / stabilized cultural images (stereotypes) in the speeches of learners of English as a Foreign Language (EFL), especially those belonging to advanced levels, trying to establish a possible relationship between the learners‟ linguistic proficiency and the stereotypes (about the English language and English speaking countries) that remain rooted in their minds even after several years of formal study of the target language. Our goal, with the studies developed, was the search for a wide understanding of the culturelanguage relationship, investigating the reasons why some stereotypes persist in the vision of proficient EFL students. Data were gathered in two different language institutes, by watching EFL classes (from different methodologies) and interviewing students with the objective of eliciting and analyzing factors that might influence the creation and maintenance of cultural pre-concepts, aiming at contributing to reflection and actions in the teaching-learning process of foreign / second languages. The results obtained indicate that culture is generally presented in a simplified and generalized way in EFL classes. There is, therefore, a need for a systematic approach to the teaching of culture in FL classes that contemplate the intrinsic relationship between language and culture, seeking the development of cultural sensitivity that might unravel stereotypes and contribute to develop critical students in the learning process and in the use of a foreign language. / Esta dissertação de mestrado constitui pesquisa qualitativa de cunho etnográfico, e está voltada para o estudo de questões relacionadas à interação em língua estrangeira (LE), enfocando diferenças culturais e estereótipos culturais existentes não somente na interação em contextos sociais amplos, mas no processo de ensino-aprendizagem de LE. Nesse sentido, pautando-nos fundamentalmente em Hall (1959), Kramsch (1993, 1998), Viana (2003) e Barbosa (2008), tivemos por objetivo apresentar e discutir ocorrências de imagens culturais estabilizadas (estereótipos) no discurso de aprendizes de Língua Inglesa (LI) como LE, especialmente aqueles pertencentes a níveis avançados de aprendizado da língua-alvo, buscando estabelecer uma possível relação entre a proficiência linguística dos aprendizes e os estereótipos (sobre a LI e sobre países cuja língua-materna é a LI) que permanecem enraizados em suas mentes mesmo após vários anos de estudo da língua-alvo. Nossa meta, com os estudos desenvolvidos, foi a busca por uma compreensão mais ampla da relação língua-cultura, investigando as razões pelas quais alguns estereótipos ainda persistem na visão de alunos proficientes em LI. Os dados foram coletados em duas escolas de idiomas, por meio de observação de aulas de inglês (de diferentes metodologias), questionários mistos e entrevistas semi-estruturadas com estudantes de LI, visando analisar os fatores que podem influenciar o desenvolvimento e a manutenção / continuação de pré-conceitos culturais, almejando, portanto, contribuir para reflexão e ação no processo de ensino-aprendizagem de LE. Os resultados obtidos revelam que cultura é comumente apresentada de maneira simplificadora e generalizada nas aulas de LI. Existe, portanto, uma necessidade de abordagens mais sistematizadas para o ensino de cultura nas aulas de LE que contemple a intrínseca relação entre língua e cultura, visando o desenvolvimento do conceito de sensibilidade cultural que possa contribuir para reflexões sobre estereótipos culturais e, consequentemente, para a formação de aprendizes críticos para atuação em contextos de uso de língua estrangeira.

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