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<p> This quant-QUAL sequential explanatory mixed methods study describes a framework for evaluating the communicative competence (Canale &amp; Swain, 1980; Canale, 1983) of non-beginner students of Chinese for placement purposes at U.S. four-year postsecondary institutions. A pragmatic lens was used to collect and analyze data that generated a descriptive portrait of current Chinese placement procedures. Three data sources informed this study: (1) a sample of randomly-selected institutional websites on Chinese placement procedures (n1 = 226), (2) an online survey of program coordinators&rsquo; perceptions (n2 = 27), and (3) a follow-up semi-structured individual interview with Chinese program coordinators (n3 = 20). Findings revealed that five procedures are commonly used: (a) written test, (b) oral interview, (c) background questionnaire, (d) standardized tests (Advanced Placement, and International Baccalaureate), and (e) seat-time equivalency. An individual oral interview is the most appropriate procedure that fits many characteristics as the literature suggested (Bloom and Allison, 1949; Heilenman, 1983; Shohamy, 1998; Bernhardt, Rivera, and Kamil, 2004; O&rsquo;Sullivan, 2011; Kane, 2012). These procedures encompassed all the four phases in the history of foreign or world language placement procedures at U.S. postsecondary institutions (Latoja, 2001; Spolsky, 2000). A fifth phase using individual interviews and background questionnaires is proposed in the present study. In addition, three types of accommodation strategies for placing students are identified: (a) student-oriented, (b) class-oriented, and (c) other resources. Student heterogeneity and placement policies are also identified to affect the Chinese placement procedures. </p><p> It appears that only those well-developed programs with seasoned coordinators have placement procedures mapped to the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) Proficiency Guidelines, but not to the other ACTFL standards. Accordingly, six models are recommended for Chinese programs with different characteristics. These programs should: (a) adapt placement models to meet demands and leverage resources of institutions and student population, (b) apply localized accommodation strategies and relevant placement policies to facilitate individual student articulation from one program to another, and (c) diversify curriculum and engage faculty in professional development related to the ACTFL standards and professional learning communities. This study concludes with implications for researchers, practitioners, and students. </p>

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Psychology / Richard J. Harris / The use of different language learning methods for the purposes of acquiring foreign language vocabulary has long been explored but studies have often failed to take into account the potential effects on lexical processing. The current study examined the effectiveness of the Keyword, Context and Paired-Associate learning methods in acquiring foreign language vocabulary, but primarily focusing on the lexical and conceptual organization effects that each method may have on a foreign language learner. Three main theories/models (i.e., Word Association, Concept Mediated and Revised Asymmetrical Hierarchical) have been used to explain the organization of bilingual lexical, conceptual stores and connections between each store, but studies have not examined the addition of a third language (i.e., L3) and the potential connections created between new L3 and the two existing language stores. It was predicted that since low-proficiency bilinguals would create lexical models which heavily rely on translation equivalents, thus, the use of non-elaborative learning methods would assist in creating only lexical translation links, while more sophisticated elaborative methods would be successful in creating direct access to the conceptual meaning. The current study further explored the potential effects of language learning methods on comprehension ability, requiring the creation of situation models for comprehension. Finally, the present study explored the immediate and delayed effects of language learning methods on both vocabulary acquisition and comprehension ability. Results from the current study indicated that all learning methods were successful in creating and conceptual connections between the languages and the conceptual store, while Keyword learners had significantly better scores on certain trial types. Differences in terms in lexical and conceptual strength are suggested since differences in RTs and scores were found between some of the learning methods. Furthermore, in terms of comparisons across time, repeated testing learners attained better scores on all trial types in comparison to learners who were only tested at Time 2. Lastly, when assessing if lexical links could be created to a non-associated highly fluent second language known by the bilingual, results indicated that each language learning method successfully created such lexical connections, but these links were weaker in strength than those of the base language that was used during learning. Based on the current results, new models of lexical access are proposed which vary based on the use of language learning methods. The current findings also have strong implications and applications to the field of foreign language acquisition, primarily for bilingual language learners acquiring an L3.

The present work aims to analyze the potential value of anthroponyms within the didac-tics of Spanish as a Foreign Language. With that purpose, theoretical basis concerning anthroponyms is provided in favor of a solid formal background that will support the following didactic proposal. Likewise, the actual presence of anthroponyms in the Curricular Plan of the Instituto Cervantes is analyzed, as well as other ways of use that it doesn't consider, but that will also inspire the activities presented at the end of this work. We will examine with more depth those anthroponyms integrated in phraseological units (Como Pedro por su casa; En tiempos de Maricasta?a; etc) for what a classification of the different existing phraseological units will be described. This classification will lead to the design of a compendium of phraseological units with these characteristics that will serve as a reference for the didactic proposal.

Videogames are an audio-visual instrument with a strong educational potential that, nevertheless, have not been considered as such yet. The goal of this work is to encourage teacher and researchers to exhaust the didactic possibilities of this new instrument which constitutes as well a nowadays real social phenomenon, in order to achieve thus its integration at the language teaching classrooms and, more precisely, at the Spanish as a Foreign Language ones. With this purpose in mind, we will delimit the main features of videogames contrasting it with other two elements with which it shares key characteristics and which are properly taken into account within the teaching sector: movies and games. Once this is accomplished, we will meditate on the pros and cons to which the use of videogames as didactic materials lead, we will provide certain keys for its proper usage and, eventually, we will gather up these thoughts and considerations which will be afterwards poured into a didactic proposal based on the graphic adventure game Hollywood Monsters 2.

Orientador: João Antonio Telles / Banca: Fernanda Liberalli / Banca: Creobel Franco Maimone / Resumo: O objetivo desta pesquisa é viabilizar a produção de outros modos de pensar a educação de professores de línguas estrangeiras. Buscamos construir contextos não convencionais de pesquisa nos quais os profissionais possam refletir acerca de sua experiência de ensino/aprendizagem de línguas. Para tanto, nos baseamos metodologicamente na Pesquisa Educacional com Base nas Artes (Eisner, 1991)cujo recurso principal é um espetáculo teatral, denominado Parâmetros em Análise. Tal espetáculo foi construído a partir de temas inspirados nos Parâmetros Curriculares Nacionais. Foram apresentados dez espetáculos em diversas instituições das redes de ensino oficial e particulares do Estado de São Paulo. No palco do espetáculo, foram representadas, artisticamente, cenas do dia-a-dia e do fazer pedagógico dos professores de línguas estrangeiras, assim como, os seus conflitos e dilemas profissionais. Após o espetáculo ocorreu uma reflexão crítica compartilhada entre a platéia composta por professores, educadores de professores e alunos de Letras. O espetáculo e a reflexão compõem aquilo que Foucault (Deleuze, 1988) conceitua como sendo um dispositivo. Para o filósofo, dispositivos são máquinas de fazer ver e falar. Eles formam uma espécie de instrumento teórico com o qual contamos para visualizar as práticas sociais que se dão na escola. As reflexões realizadas pelos professores indicam um desencontro entre aquilo que professores e alunos estão atualizando nas suas práticas e, aquilo que propõem certas pesquisas, políticas educacionais e o funcionamento da estrutura institucional da escola. / Abstract: The objective of this paper is to make the production of "other" ways of thinking over education of foreign language teachers possible. We intend to construct non-conventional contexts of research, in which the professionals can think over their language learning/teaching experiences. For that, we are based methodologically on the Educational Research based on Arts (Eisner, 1991) whose chief resource is the dramatic performance, called Patterns in Analysis. Such performance was built from themes inspired in the Parâmetros Curriculares Nacionais. Ten performances were acted in several public and private institutions of education in the State of São Paulo. On the stage, everyday scenes and the pedagogical work of foreign language teachers were acted artistically, such as, their conflicts and professional dilemmas. After the performance, a critical reflection shared by the audience composed by teachers, teachers' professors and students took place. The performance and the reflection compose what Foucault (Deleuze, 1988) considers as a device. To the philosopher, devices are machines of making see and speak. They constitute a theoretical instrument that we use to analyze the social experiences that happen at schools. The reflections arisen by the teachers indicate a discordance from what teachers and students have been passing through a process of modification in their experiences and, from what some researches, educational policies and the operation of the institutional structure of the school propose. / Mestre

Orientador: Douglas Altamiro Consolo / Banca: Mailce Borges Mota / Banca: Melissa Alves Baffi-Bonvino / Resumo: Esta pesquisa trata da avaliação da proficiência oral de quatro professoras de inglês como língua estrangeira (ILE). O foco está na competência gramatical na produção oral das professoras-participantes (PPs), no que se refere à precisão e à complexidade gramatical de sua fala. Trata-se de uma análise comparativa de dados orais das participantes, obtidos em contexto pré-serviço, por meio da aplicação do TEPOLI (Teste de Proficiência Oral em Língua Inglesa), e em serviço, como professoras de língua inglesa (LI) em sala de aula. De maneira geral, buscamos oferecer contribuições para validar o TEPOLI, teste oral criado na UNESP de São José do Rio Preto, como um instrumento de avaliação da proficiência oral (PO) de (futuros) professores de LI no contexto brasileiro. Como objetivos específicos, buscamos, em primeiro lugar, comparar o desempenho gramatical das PPs em ambos os contextos a fim de discutir em que medida o TEPOLI consegue prever as necessidades linguísticas dos professores quando em sala de aula, com foco em sua competência gramatical, e, em segundo lugar, a partir desta comparação, oferecer contribuições para o aprimoramento dos componentes do descritor gramática e estrutura sintática da escala holística do teste oral, bem como para a elaboração de uma escala analítica referente a esses componentes. A metodologia da pesquisa é de natureza híbrida, pois adota procedimentos quantitativos e qualitativos para o tratamento dos dados. Os resultados obtidos por meio da comparação entre o contexto pré-serviço e em serviço mostram que o desempenho oral das PPs em ambos os contextos é similar, o que fornece fortes indícios de que o TEPOLI é capaz de prever grande parte dos comportamentos linguísticos do professor em sala de aula, principalmente no que se refere à dimensão... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: This study deals with the assessment of the oral proficiency of four English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers. The focus is on the grammatical competence in the oral production of the participants, with regard to accuracy and grammatical complexity. It is a comparative study of the oral language produced during the TEPOLI (Test of Oral Proficiency in English) - a pre-service context - and in the classrooms, as EFL teachers - an in-service context. Our general goal is to offer contributions to validate the TEPOLI, an oral test developed at UNESP, in São José do Rio Preto, as a specific tool to assess the oral proficiency of (future) teachers in the Brazilian context. We first seek to compare the grammatical performance of the participants in both contexts in order to discuss the predictability of the TEPOLI on the linguistic needs of teachers when speaking in the classroom, concerning the grammar in their oral production. From this comparison, we offer contributions to the improvement of the components of the grammar and syntactic structure descriptor of the holistic scale of the oral test, as well as to the development of an analytical scale related to these components. The research methodology has a hybrid nature, as it adopts quantitative and qualitative procedures to analyze data. The results obtained by the comparison between the pre-service context and the in-service context show that the oral performance of the participants in both contexts is similar, which provide strong evidence that the TEPOLI is able to predict large part of the linguistic behavior of the teacher's oral production when in the classroom, especially with regard to the qualitative dimension of the accuracy and the grammatical complexity of their oral production, the two characteristics investigated. However, our results show that... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

O ensino de Português como Língua Estrangeira (PLE), em nosso país, é, atualmente, uma atividade de natureza acidental, com esparsas oportunidades de formação específica e, em geral, realizada por professores de outras línguas estrangeiras, nativos de português. Propomo-nos, neste estudo, observar essa conjuntura, tomando como hipótese o fato de que o professor ensinar outras línguas e ser nativo não se constitui como uma garantia de conforto para o ensino de português para estrangeiros. A partir disto, levantamos representações de língua, professor e aluno para os professores de PLE entrevistados, a fim de contemplar a relação do professor com a língua que ensina, como ele representa seu lugar de professor e que lugar ele constrói para seu aluno. Procedemos à análise sob uma perspectiva discursiva (ORLANDI, 1997; CORACINI, 1999; GUIMARÃES, 2002) e também considerando alguns conceitos da Psicanálise (FREUD, 1919; LACAN, 1964; MILNER, 1978; BACKES, 2000) e dos Estudos Culturais (BHABHA, 1994; BAUMAN, 2001; WOODWARD, 2000). Em linhas gerais, observamos que há uma estrangeiridade na constituição da língua portuguesa no professor, que acarreta certa dificuldade do ensino dessa língua como língua estrangeira. O lugar do professor, com caráter de novidade, é marcado pelo espaço de enunciação do português, que, habitado por outras línguas, em especial o inglês, afeta a constituição do lugar do professor de PLE. O aluno, por sua vez, é representado por meio de uma estereotipia em relação à sua nação de origem. As imagens levantadas constituem-se de maneira interdependente e relacionam-se à fluidez do lugar do professor de PLE: um lugar com novos contornos, moventes e dinâmicos. / Teaching Portuguese as a Foreign Language in Brazil is, at present, an accidental activity, with a few opportunities for specific Professional education and, in general, it is done by teachers of other foreign languages who are also Portuguese native speakers. Our aim in this study is to observe such domain, considering as our hypothesis the fact that teaching other languages and being a native does not guarantee that the teacher will feel comfortable to teach Portuguese to foreigners. Relying on the interviewed teachers words, we identified representations concerning language, teacher and student, with analysis focusing on the relation between teacher and language, the way they represent their position as a teacher and the position they construct to their students. We have adopted a discursive perspective (ORLANDI, 1997; CORACINI, 1999; GUIMARÃES, 2002) and also take into account concepts from Psychoanalysis (FREUD, 1919; LACAN, 1964; MILNER, 1978; BACKES, 2000) and Cultural Studies (BHABHA, 1994; BAUMAN, 2001; WOODWARD, 2000). Generally speaking, we have observed that there is strangeness for the teacher in relation to their Portuguese constitution, which follows into certain difficulties when they are supposed to teach it to foreigners. The teachers position, a new one, is marked by the Portuguese uttering space, itself composed by many languages, especially English. Such composition affects the constitution of the teachers position in Portuguese as a Foreign Language. As for the student, the teachers represent them via stereotypes about their native countries. The images about language, teacher and student are interdependent and also related to the flowing character of the position of the Portuguese as a Foreign Language teacher: a dynamic position, with new outlines and in constant movement.

Aprendizes e professores de línguas constituem-se por diferentes representações acerca da língua com a qual mantêm contato e do contexto que a compreende. Desse ponto de vista, analisamos a relação sujeito-língua com o objetivo de examinar como as representações mobilizadas pelos sujeitos produzem efeitos de sentido para os sujeitos e para a relação que eles estabelecem com a língua. Assim, de uma perspectiva discursiva (CORACINI, 2009; GRIGOLETTO, 2013; ORLANDI, 2012), considerando conceitos psicanalíticos (LACAN, 1964; VOLTOLINI, 2011), analisamos os dizeres de quinze entrevistados (aprendizes e professores), envolvidos com uma língua estrangeira: inglês, espanhol, francês, alemão, italiano, japonês, chinês e russo. Depreendemos, dos dizeres, a regularidade de três formações discursivas, a que nomeamos: língua guarda-roupa (cuja dinâmica é semelhante àquela conceitualizada por Bauman (2005) com a \"comunidade guardaroupa\"), língua atraente (sugerindo os efeitos de fascinação que a língua exerce ao sujeito) e língua fragmentada (apontando determinada imagem de segmentação da língua). Na análise, articulamos o conceito freudiano do \"estranho\" (FREUD, 1919), que se apresenta de modo profícuo para o exame da relação sujeito-língua, pois explica efeitos de \"estranhamento\", percebidos como desconforto e dificuldade, constitutivos do sujeito e que observamos nessa relação. A partir desse conceito, também examinamos os efeitos de familiaridade, enunciados como bem-estar e conforto na relação sujeito-língua e também relacionados às formações discursivas referidas. A análise da fluidez entre os efeitos de estranhamento e familiaridade destaca a constituição clivada do sujeito e a amplitude de efeitos de sua relação com a língua, contemplando representações constituídas nas condições de produção da hipermodernidade, concernentes ao mundo do mercado e de suas relações líquidas. / Language learners and teachers are constituted by different representations of the language with which they keep contact and also of the context that surrounds it. Bearing that in mind, we analyse the relation between subject and language, aiming at understanding how the representations the subjects mobilise produce different effects upon them and on the relation they establish with the language. Thus, from a discursive perspective (CORACINI, 2009; GRIGOLETTO, 2013; ORLANDI, 2012), considering psychoanalytical concepts (LACAN, 1964; VOLTOLINI, 2011), we examine the interviews made with fifteen learners and teachers, involved with one of the following languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Chinese and Russian. We can see, from their words, the regularity of three different discursive formations: the cloakroom language (whose dynamics is similar to the one developed by Bauman (2005) with the \"cloackroom community\"), the attractive language (suggesting effects of fascination the language exercises upon the subject), and the fragmented language (indicating certain representations of language segmentation). In our analysis, we articulate the Freudian concept of the \"uncanny\" (FREUD, 1919), for it explains sensations of discomfort and difficulty, which constitute the subject and can be observed in the relation between subject and language. We also examine its counterpart, the effects of familiarity, uttered as sensations of well-being and comfort in this relation and also related to the discursive formations forementioned. The analysis of the dynamics between the effects of uncanny and familiarity highlight the cleaved constitution of the subject and the range of effects of their relation with the language, contemplating representations constructed in accordance with the circumstances of hypermodernity, concerning the market itself and its liquid relations.

A presente dissertação trata das crenças e representações de alunos e professores de língua estrangeira como fatores que interferem no processo de ensino/aprendizagem. O trabalho resulta de uma pesquisa de cunho qualitativo na qual foram utilizadas como base teórica as noções de crença e de reprodução cultural, de Bourdieu, e o conceito de representação, de Chartier. O enfoque do tema também considerou as contribuições teóricas em aquisição e aprendizagem de línguas. Foi empregada na pesquisa a metodologia etnográfica, incluindo observação participante e elaboração de notas de campo. A análise do material produzido durante as atividades da pesquisa aponta para a importância da explicitação das crenças e representações em jogo no processo de ensino/aprendizagem de língua estrangeira, como mais um recurso para o professor no processo de reflexão sobre sua prática e solução de problemas didáticos. / The present dissertation discusses beliefs and representations of foreign language students and teachers as factors which interfere with teaching and learning processes. The work stems from a qualitative research project in which Bourdieu´s notions of belief and cultural reproduction, as well as Chartier´s concept of representation, were used as theoretical bases. The theme focus has also taken into account theoretical contributions related to language acquisition and learning. Ethnographic methodology was employed, which included in-class participative observation and elaboration of field notes. Analysis of material produced during research activities points out the importance of explicitness of those beliefs and representations in play at foreign language teaching and learning processes, as they constitute one more set of resources to teachers within their reflection process about practices and solutions to didactical issues.