in English Aim of the thesis: The aim of this diploma thesis is to define the term drill and depict its current use within the English lesson and also assess its role within the language school, where drill is used as a primary teaching technique. Drill is a technique which went through its greatest development when the Audiolingual method became widespread but gradually, throughout the time of the Communicative approach, it began to lose popularity. Despite this, the drill has not been completely forgotten. Not only can we see drill exercises in modern textbooks, but we also encounter drill in the classroom. Drill has been defined in the theoretical section, where its forms have also been described. In addition, the use of drill in various different methods has been further elaborated on and the reasons that led to its downfall. Theoretical part: The aim here is to answer a number of questions: Why do teachers use drill? What are the drawbacks? What do learners prefer as an alternative? Why do some learners deliberately sign up for classes in language schools where drill is mainly used and what results and experience the language school has with drill? Practical part: The author describes her own research, which is based on a questionnaire survey done in a language school where drill is used as...

An ethnographic study was conducted through film recordings and observations in an attempt to investigate the methods Vägar in i Arbete used when conducting exercises in second language acquisition. Vägar in i Arbete is a labor market policy program with the goal that the participants will improve their ability to speak Swedish, as well as attain a concise plan for their future financial prospects. The intent of the project was to facilitate learning by having the participants engage with the language in an informal, non-educational context. The study investigated the methods used at the project during exercises related to the participants’ second language acquisition, as well as how the participants’ progression was evaluated. The purpose of the study was to investigate to what extent the programs context could be perceived as informal. Furthermore, the validity of the assessment was investigated in an attempt to establish if the evaluation of the participants’ progression were accurate. In order to investigate the context, two methods for language acquisition were used as comparisons. Krashen’s Natural Approach was included to represent a more informal approach, and this was contrasted with the more formally structured Audiolingual method. These methods were then compared to the exercises at Vägar in i Arbete to determine to what extent the environment could be considered informal. The results indicate that the exercises closely resemble the construct of the exercises favored by the Audiolingual method. Certain aspects of the Natural Approach are greatly present in the daily activities. However, these aspects do not become explicitly apparent in the linguistic exercises. Furthermore, a significant discrepancy which puts the validity of the summative assessment in question was observed.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-05-14T12:42:52Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 1560821 bytes, checksum: 904a2be1796064ced28cba74d4adc87b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-03-24 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Our dissertation is included in the Aplied Linguistics and Social Practices Context part of the Post-graduation Program in Linguistics at Universidade Federal da Paraíba, focusing on the representations on teachers actions in work situations. We work with the teaching of the English language performed in a language school located in Joao Pessoa-PB, whose methodology is based on the Audiolingual Method. We believe that if such method prescribes the teacher s actions, it is also a way to make this teacher reflect about his/her practice highlighting points of views and changes. Our theoretical perspective shares the studies developed by the Socio and Discursive Interactionism (SDI) approach whose main reference is Bronckart (1997 e ss.) and the other researchers. Our focus is to identify and analyze the relation between language and educational work in texts produced before and after the work situation. Behind such perspective, we present our main goal that is to understand the way such texts reflect representations, interpretations and social evaluations concerning the teacher s activity. We used the action categories developed by Bronckart and Machado (2004) and Bulea (2010) to analyze the texts before and after the teacher s work. In a first moment, we identified such categories in a prescriptive document previously implicated in the classroom context, considering the roles attributed to the teachers. After that, we verified the actions mobilized by the teachers throughout their interviews and the roles they assign themselves. We believe that this research represents a relevant contribution to reflect about the way prescriptive documents really influence the teaching practice and the way teachers usually deal with such prescriptions. / Nosso trabalho acadêmico se insere no contexto de pesquisas em Lingüística Aplicada e Práticas Sociais do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Lingüística da Universidade Federal da Paraíba com foco nas representações do agir docente em situação de trabalho. Trabalhamos com o ensino de língua inglesa em uma escola de idiomas localizada na cidade de João Pessoa PB, parte de um sistema de franquias, cuja metodologia de trabalho se fundamenta, entre outros aspectos, no Método Áudiolingual. Partimos do pressuposto de que o método em questão, ao mesmo tempo em que delimita o trabalho do professor, também o faz repensar sua prática dando margem a posicionamentos e mudanças. Nossa perspectiva teórica compartilha dos estudos realizados no âmbito do Interacionismo SócioDiscursivo (ISD) desenvolvido por Bronckart (1997 e ss.) e demais pesquisadores. O nosso foco de análise volta-se à identificação da relação entre linguagem e trabalho educacional em textos produzidos sobre o trabalho (o Guia de Capacitação) e em situação de trabalho (Entrevistas) e, diante disso, elaboramos o nosso objetivo principal que é o de verificar como tais textos refletem as possíveis representações, interpretações e avaliações sociais da atividade docente. Utilizamos como procedimento analítico, numa perspectiva qualitativa, os elementos linguístico-estruturais com base nas categorias de uma Semântica do Agir propostas por Bronckart e Machado (2004) e Bulea (2010) considerando os textos produzidos anteriormente e posteriormente a situação de trabalho. Em um primeiro instante, identificamos as categorias mencionadas em um documento prescritivo diretamente implicado no trabalho de ensino e anterior a este, considerando, também, os papéis atribuídos aos professores. Posteriormente, nós verificamos as ações mobilizadas pelos professores em suas entrevistas e os papéis que eles mesmos se atribuem. Acreditamos que a nossa pesquisa representa uma contribuição relevante na busca da reflexão acerca da forma como os documentos prescritivos influenciam, de fato, a prática de sala de aula e como os professores se posicionam diante de tais prescrições.

This thesis concerns audio courses as the means of teaching of foreign languages. In the theoretical part, it deals with historical context of language audio courses. By way of describing the development of teaching methods (grammar-translation method, direct method and audio-lingual method in particular), it presents main principles of audio courses. Due to the main target group of language audio courses in general and also the audio course of Czech for foreigners that was created as a project to this thesis, it also deals with A1 language level according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. In the practical part, it concerns with analysis of three audio courses - the Berlitz's Češkij jazyk: bazovyj kurs, the Pimsleur's Speak and Read Essential Czech and the new project audio course. The last mentioned audio course was pretested and the results are provided in form of case studies. Key words audio course, audiolingual method, Berlitz, Czech for foreigners, Pimsleur, direct method

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This study is an attempt to determine the impact of teachers' attitudes on their classroom behaviour and therefore on their implementation of the Communicative Approach. A descriptive case study was conducted at six secondary schools in Harare, Zimbabwe (as ESL environment) to determine the effect of 38 O-level English teachers' attitudes on their classroom practice. Quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection, including a questionnaire, an observation instrument and a semistructured interview were used to gauge teachers' attitudes, assessing the extent to which attitudes are reflected in their classroom behaviour, and eliciting teachers' verbalisation of how they conceive of their professional task. The findings show that the effective implementation of the Communicative Approach was critically dependent on teachers' positive attitudes towards this approach in the five categories covered by this study. / Linguistics / M.A. (Applied Linguistics)

This study is an attempt to determine the impact of teachers' attitudes on their classroom behaviour and therefore on their implementation of the Communicative Approach. A descriptive case study was conducted at six secondary schools in Harare, Zimbabwe (as ESL environment) to determine the effect of 38 O-level English teachers' attitudes on their classroom practice. Quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection, including a questionnaire, an observation instrument and a semistructured interview were used to gauge teachers' attitudes, assessing the extent to which attitudes are reflected in their classroom behaviour, and eliciting teachers' verbalisation of how they conceive of their professional task. The findings show that the effective implementation of the Communicative Approach was critically dependent on teachers' positive attitudes towards this approach in the five categories covered by this study. / Linguistics and Modern Languages / M.A. (Applied Linguistics)