The study sought to explore possibilities of using ChiShona as a medium of instruction in the teaching of Mathematics in primary schools. The aim was to compare the use of English as a medium of instruction with ChiShona as medium of instruction in the teaching and learning of Mathematics to Grade 4 class. The other objective was to examine the people’s attitudes towards the use of mother tongue instruction in the teaching and learning of Mathematics in Zimbabwe primary schools. A practical teaching experiment was used to investigate the feasibility of using ChiShona as medium of instruction in the teaching and learning of Mathematics to Grade 4 class. In addition a descriptive survey research design which used questionnaires and interviews as data collection methods was employed for its usefulness in exploratory studies. A total of 750 people participated in the research and these were 40 Grade 4 learners (used for teaching experiment) 260 teachers/lecturers, 250 parents and 200 college/university learners. Data gathered was subjected to both quantitative and qualitative analysis resulting in data triangulation for validation. Major findings of the research indicated that the use of ChiShona as a medium of instruction in the teaching of Mathematics to primary school children is possible and that the use of the mother tongue instruction (ChiShona) impacted positively in the teaching of Mathematics to Grade 4 learners. The use of ChiShona as a medium of instruction in teaching Mathematics was effective and comparatively the learners who used ChiShona performed better than those who used English as a medium of instruction. However the research further concluded that people preferred that English remain the only medium of instruction from primary up to university level as English offers them better opportunities for employment compared to ChiShona. The study concludes that the continued use of English as medium of instruction means that African languages such as ChiShona will remain underdeveloped and fail to find their way in the classrooms as languages of instruction in education. The study finally recommends the need for an all-inclusive multi-lingual policy that uplifts the status of indigenous languages and their literature without annihilating English. / African Languages / D. Litt et Phil.

The study sought to explore perception and attitude towards the study of African languages in high schools and the resultant implications on human resources development and management. The research basically explored the diverse perception and attitude that prevail towards African languages in African countries in general and Zimbabwe in particular. The descriptive survey research design was used mainly for its effectiveness in exploratory research. Participants were drawn from selected high schools and universities in Zimbabwe. Questionnaires, interviews, focus group discussions and documentary analyses were used to collect data. Data gathered were then subjected to both qualitative and quantitative analyses for triangulation purposes. Major findings indicated that the perception and attitude towards the study of African languages in Zimbabwean high schools is generally negative. English language is preferred to and valued more than African languages. Such perception and attitude determine choices of programmes of study at tertiary level and the selective channeling of people into specific professional fields. Consequently, that impact on the development and management of potential human resources in professions related to African languages. The current language policy in Zimbabwe has no clear instrument that defines the place of African languages in the curriculum and work place as is the case with English. The choice of language to study at high school is thus determined by fossilised perception and attitude towards languages in general, coupled with lack of career guidance on the link between African languages and related career opportunities, in the belief that English is the gateway to success. The study clearly reveals that it is the Zimbabwean education system that should realize the potential of schools as agents of change in improving the status of African languages. Hence the study advocates restructuring of the curriculum. Proposals and recommendations to re-engineer the Zimbabwean curriculum so that indigenous African languages are made compulsory up to ‘A’ level were made. Such a bold move would uplift the status of African languages and at the same time improve perception and attitude towards their study as well as indirectly, but positively, impacting on human resources development and management in related disciplines. / African Languages / D. Litt. et Phil. (African Languages)

The influx of Black pupils seeking admission to Indian schools began in 1990 after the Democratic Movement's "all schools for all people" campaign was announced. The medium of instruction in Indian schools is English which is also the mother tongue. Therefore Black pupils who come on transfer from schools in the KwaZulu township are immediately faced with a language problem as they are taught in the mother tongue untii standard three, when they switch to English. This research project arose as a result of the researcher's experience with Black pupils, whom he - felt were severely linguistically underprepared for academic study in the senior primary phase. Furthermore, most present day teachers were trained for monocultural schools and have little or no experience of multicultural education. The main problem that this research focuses on includes the learning problems encountered by Black pupils in Indian primary schools and the concomitant teaching problems their teachers experience. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (Didactics)

Le nombre d'unions où les deux conjoints n'ont pas la même langue maternelle est en augmentation depuis les dernières décennies au Québec. Sachant que les enfants issus de ces unions gravitent dans un univers familial plurilingue, l'objectif de ce mémoire est de connaître les langues qui leur sont transmises. En utilisant les données du questionnaire long du recensement canadien de 2006, nous avons procédé à différentes analyses descriptives nous permettant de cerner les langues maternelles véhiculées aux enfants issus d'une union mixte, de vérifier si ces enfants héritent davantage de la langue maternelle de leur mère ou de leur père et s'ils opèrent des substitutions linguistiques avant l'âge de 18 ans, c'est-à-dire si leur langue maternelle diffère de leur langue d'usage. De plus, par le biais de régressions logistiques, nous avons étudié les déterminants contextuel, ethno-culturel et socio-économique les plus susceptibles d'expliquer le choix de la langue transmise aux enfants. Les résultats obtenus démontrent la place prédominante des langues officielles canadiennes, au détriment des langues non officielles, chez les familles exogames. De plus, le choix de la langue maternelle transmise s'avère principalement conditionné par le lieu de résidence, le parcours migratoire des parents et le pays de naissance des enfants. / The number of unions where both partners do not share the same mother tongue has grown substantially over the last decades in Quebec. Given that children born to these unions live in a multilingual family setting, the purpose of this research is to study the mother tongue transmitted to these children. Using the 2006 Canadian census long-form questionnaire, we first conducted various descriptive analyses. These were intended to identify the mother tongue transmitted to children born to mixed-language unions, to ascertain whether children inherit either their mother or father's mother tongue, and to determine if a language shift occurs before the age of 18 years old, in other words whether their mother tongue differs from the principal language they use at home. In addition, through logistic regressions, we examined the contextual, ethnocultural and socioeconomic determinants explaining the choice of the language transmitted to children. The results show the predominance of the two official Canadian languages in mixed-language families, at the expense of non-official languages. Furthermore, the choice of the mother tongue transmitted is mainly conditioned by the place of residence, the parent's migration path and the children's birthplace.

This thesis focuses on the use of the mother tongue in foreign language teaching and learning. Recently there has been a notable shift towards promoting the use of the mother tongue. The theoretical part of the thesis maps the attitudes to the mother tongue in current literature as well as the suggested ways of its use in the classroom. The practical part attempts to analyse the students' attitudes towards the incorporation of Czech into English learning and teaching and their experience with its use from their secondary schools. To obtain the data, an online questionnaire was employed. The respondents are first- and second-year students of English and American studies who are expected to be able to analyse both the advantages and disadvantages of using Czech. The practical part focuses on the efficiency of Czech in comparison with English, ways of presenting grammar and vocabulary, the relation between the mother tongue use and the proficiency of students, and learning strategies of the respondents. Based on the analysis, suggestions regarding the mother tongue use are presented in the conclusion.

The diploma thesis deals with the topic of education of pupils with a different mother tongue in the Czech Republic; the target group are children in the age of compulsory education (approx. age 6 to 15), the target location is Prague. The topic is elaborated from the perspective of the actors of language management - state institutions, elementary schools and non-profit organizations. In the theoretic part, those subjects are characterized; the focus concentrates on the current legislation, the possibilities of funding of teaching Czech as a second language, the methodical support from the state. Non-profit organizations are characterized more in detail and their general role in civil society is explained. The practical part of the thesis describes and analyses the current situation: it identifies problems each actor is dealing with and mostly it captures their positions in the system and mutual interaction. The structure of this part is based on the activities of the non-profit organizations - their offer of the extracurricular, language-education courses for pupils with a different mother tongue, support of elementary schools and people working with this target group as well as communication with the Ministry of Education and active effort to improve the current support. The semi-structured...

L’entrave majeure du système éducatif algérien dans sa démarche d’ascension scientifique et sociale réside dans sa politique linguistique en rupture avec l’ancien colonisateur mais aussi avec les langues locales à savoir l’algérien et le tamazight. Prise entre une idéologie d’arabisation, un élitisme francophone et une revendication identitaire amazighe, l’école algérienne d’aujourd’hui peine à répondre aux exigences du multiculturalisme local d’une part et celles du marché international d’une autre. En effet, dans la réforme de 2003 axée sur la pédagogie par compétences il a été question, entre autres, de redorer le blason de la langue française en lui accordant plus d’intérêt. L’évaluation officielle du système éducatif algérien repose sur une démarche statistique tirée des examens nationaux qui l’appuie et le cautionne; Le chiffre est au centre des réalisations que ce soit en taux de réussite, de recrutement d’enseignant ou de scolarisation. L’enjeu de notre recherche est de vérifier l’échec de cette refonte pédagogique qui une fois de plus écarte la langue mère de l’enfant du paysage scolaire. Nous avons choisi d’aborder ce sujet en menant deux grandes enquêtes de terrain sur deux compétences faisant partie du triptyque scolaire : la lecture et l’écriture chez des élèves de 6eme. Les tests de lecture ont été faits en français et en langue officielle (l’arabe littéral) afin de sonder le niveau dans les deux langues. Les résultats obtenus confirment dans les deux cas l’écart existant entre le niveau réel de l’élève et celui arboré par les instances officielles sous des chiffres symboliques donnant l’image illusoire de la réussite de tout un système. / The major impediment to the Algerian education system has been in its approach to science and social ascension lying in its language policy, at odds with the former colonizer but also with local languages namely Algerian and Tamazight. Caught in the grip of an Arabization ideology, Francophone elitism and an Amazigh claim for identity, the Algerian school today has troubles meeting the requirements of local multiculturalism on the one hand and the international market on the other hand. Indeed, in the 2003 reform-oriented skill-based pedagogy, among other things, the intention was to restore the prestige of French language by giving it more interest. The official evaluation of the Algerian education system is based on a statistical approach over national examinations that supports it and endorses it; Numbers are at the center of achievements both in success rate, hiring of teachers or of schooling. The goal of our research is to investigate about the failure of the pedagogic reform that once again rejects the mother tongue of the child from the educational landscape. We chose to address this issue by conducting two major surveys on two skills that are part of the triptych school: reading and writing among children in 6th grad. Tests in reading (ROLL) were given in French and in the official language (Arabic) to probe the level in both languages. Our results confirm in both cases the gap between the true level of students and the one presented by the official institutions with figures giving an illusory image of the success of the whole system.

Syftet med denna uppsats var att utveckla kunskap om integrationsproblematiken för nyanlända ungdomar på språkintroduktion i Sverige. Kvalitativa intervjuer med en narrativ utgångspunkt användes som metod för datainsamling, där fem stycken nyanlända elever på språkintroduktion intervjuades. Det centrala teoretiska begreppet vilken tillämpades som analysverktyg i denna studie, har av oss tolkats utifrån Riessman, Johansson och Ricoeurs teorier om narrativ identitet. Studien utgick ifrån frågeställningar om hur eleverna framställer språkintroduktion, språk och gemenskap, samt hur deras identiteter framträder i deras narrativ. Följande frågeställningar låg därmed till grund för uppsatsen: hur framställs elevernas relation till språkintroduktion i deras berättelser, hur framträder elevernas identiteter i berättelserna, samt vilken funktion har språk och gemenskap i elevernas berättelser? Det övergripande narrativet präglades av elevernas förväntningar, besvikelser, ambivalens och slutligen lösningar. Resultatet visade att elevernas modersmål huvudsakligen framställdes i negativa termer, då ett användande av modersmålet framför det svenska språket hämmar språkfärdigheter i svenska och skapar svårigheter att integreras i den sociala gemenskapen i samhället. Oavsett grad av social gemenskap, framkom det i denna studie att elevernas identitet som invandrare blir bestående även efter språkintroduktion. Slutligen synliggjordes en ambivalent inställning kring hur eleverna framställer språk, skola och gemenskap, vilket illustrerade fenomenens mångsidiga inverkan på elevernas tillvaro. / The purpose of this essay was to develop knowledge about integration problems for newly arrived adolescents in a language introduction program in Sweden. Qualitative interviews with a focus on narrative aspects was used as a method for data collection. Five newly arrived pupils at language introduction program were interviewed. The central theoretical concept, which has been used as a tool for analysing in this study, has been understood through theories surrounding narrative identity by Riessman, Johansson and Ricoeur. This study was based on questions regarding how students present language introduction program, language and community, and how their identities appear in their narratives. Therefore, the following questions made the foundation of this essay; how is the students’ relation to language introduction program presented in their narratives, hur does the students’ identities appear in their narratives, and what function does language and community have in their narratives? The overarching narrative was characterized by the students’ expectations, disappointments, ambivalence, and finally, solutions. The results of this study showed that the students’ mother tongue was mainly presented in negative terms. Using the mother tongue, rather than the swedish language, inhibits language skills in swedish, and thus create difficulties concerning the integration into the social community. Regardless of the level of social inclusion, this study showed that the students’ identity as immigrants remain permanent even after language introduction. Finally, an ambivalent attitude was highlighted regarding how the students describe language, school and community. This illustrates the diverse effects of the phenomena on the students’ situation.

This thesis studies the contacts between Scandinavia and the Mediterranean area during the Scandinavian Bronze Age. These contacts have been the topic of controversy for a long time as one side of the debate believes in direct contacts between Scandinavia and the Mediterranean area, and the other side believes that contacts between the two areas could only have been by down the line trading contacts. This thesis then aims to see what evidence there is that the contacts would have been direct or otherwise. This is done by studying the archaeological evidence as well as the pictographic depictions on rock art in Scandinavia and painted pottery from the Mediterranean area, as well as ships and ship technology to understand if Scandinavian ships would have been able to travel to the Mediterranean in the first place. Further, this thesis also studies the urn burials introduced to Scandinavia during the Bronze Age from northern Italy to see the spreading of ideas, as well as isotope analysis of bronze from Sweden and Denmark together with strontium analysis of Bronze Age individuals to form a complete picture about these contacts and how they took place.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-28T18:23:54Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Lucimar Bizio.pdf: 541847 bytes, checksum: 7905964cf5096a4b11b4202ec3a003f7 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-08-29 / Secretaria da Educação do Estado de São Paulo / This study discusses issues concerning pedagogical perspectives of Portuguese language teaching aiming at deaf people. In order to offer a critical view of steady tendencies in the field, namely those which focus the mother tongue, L1 and L2, this thesis presents an overview of the history of educational approaches directed to the deaf and discusses the Brazilian state of the art in that field and comments some studies which emphasizes the deafs writing. It is worth keeping in mind that the so called bilingual approach defines the Sign Language as L1 and the writing in Portuguese as L2. The present study approaches the deaf person writing ability from a theoretical perspective which tries to explain their productions and difficulties as effects of the functioning of language and not as cognitive deficits. The discussion developed here was guided by propositions from the Brazilian Interactionism, proposed and advanced by Cláudia Lemos and other authors as well as the theoretical developments put forward by the research group Language Pathology and Clinic, headed by Maria Francisca Lier-DeVitto and Lúcia Arantes / Este trabalho tece considerações sobre as práticas pedagógicas, no ensino de língua portuguesa, voltadas às pessoas surdas. Para encaminhar a reflexão sobre o tema em questão foi necessário desnaturalizar termos que circulam livremente no campo dos estudos sobre a surdez. Entre eles, destaca-se o de língua materna, L1 e L2, uma vez que, na abordagem bilingüísta, entende-se a Língua de Sinais como L1, enquanto a escrita do português é considerada como segunda língua L.2. A escrita do surdo neste projeto sempre foi vista por uma perspectiva teórica que entendesse as dificuldades apresentadas por esses sujeitos, como efeitos possíveis do funcionamento da língua e não apenas como déficit. Para cumprir a meta proposta foi necessário empreender uma discussão sobre a aquisição da linguagem, sobre as concepções de escrita e também sobre a problemática relação do surdo com a escrita. O ponto de partida foi uma apresentação da literatura brasileira sobre o assunto, seguida por um panorama sobre a história da educação dos surdos. Foram abordadas as possibilidades de contribuição do diálogo com a Lingüística e também com a Psicanálise, com vistas a considerar a singularidade do surdo. Neste trabalho está em questão a relação singular do sujeito surdo com a linguagem, que movimentou as discussões sobre a língua materna do surdo, o que é L1 e L2 e a entrada do surdo no universo da escrita. A discussão aqui encaminhada foi iluminada pelo Interacionismo Brasileiro, proposto por Cláudia Lemos, por outros autores filiados à sua proposta e pelos desdobramentos teóricos presentes nos trabalhos do grupo de pesquisa Aquisição, Patologias e Clínica de Linguagem, coordenado por Maria Francisca Lier-DeVitto