The current thesis is a theoretical and empirical investigation of the foreign language classroom, conducted from a cross-national comparative perspective. The study is based on quantitative and qualitative data which were collected from students and teachers of German in selected universities of Ukraine and Australia. The following research questions were formulated: 1. What are the structure and objectives of the German language program at Ukrainian and Australian universities? 2. What are the peculiarities of the German language curriculum and teaching methodology in the universities of Ukraine and Australia? 3. What are students’ motives to study German in Ukraine and Australia? 4. What are students’ and teachers’ perceptions of the curriculum, content and teaching? 5. How do students themselves evaluate their present language skills, and those expected to be acquired by the end of the course? 6. What are the advantages and disadvantages in both education practices? / Each country’s distinctive social and pedagogical factors, such as language policy, attitudes towards languages and pedagogical tradition were taken into account. / The research was conducted at universities in Kyiv, Kharkiv and Lviv (Ukraine) and Melbourne (Australia). A combination of quantitative and qualitative methods was adopted which included student and teacher questionnaires, interviews, classroom observations and study of departmental programs and policy documents. In general terms, it was revealed that: Substantial differences exist in areas such as curriculum, teaching methods and approaches, content and student motivation for studying German. Although education systems in Australia and Ukraine are different, learners in both countries have similar aims and expectations from their language course, and their perceptions of a good language course are also similar. Students in both countries expressed an urgent need for an increase in the communicative component and greater exposure to practical, up-to-date lexical and grammar material in order to be able to communicate effectively. In Australia there is a mismatch between the course objectives and content outlined in the program and what is really taught in the class In Ukraine, a shift has occurred towards more practice-oriented and integrated language learning/teaching; however there is a great need for the creation of better conditions for acquisition of communicative skills and up-to-date vocabulary.

The overall aim of the present study is to investigate how teachers deal with linguistic and cultural otherness in the French foreign language classroom at upper secondary school level in Sweden. The foreign language classroom is seen as a cultural meeting place where images of otherness are natural elements. In this respect, otherness should be regarded as one cultural aspect among others implying human as well as language phenomena. Analyzing the way in which the teachers in the study mediate this otherness to their students is expected to contribute to the pedagogical debate on intercultural understanding in language teaching and learning.   The study is based on empirical data consisting of video recorded observations in three different classrooms. One class (class A) is treated as primary data where two activities are especially focused, namely working with texts and working with grammar. The verbal interaction from these activities has been transcribed and analyzed qualitatively.   The first step of analysis concerns the learning aims which are transmitted to the students in the teacher’s introduction to the two activities. The second step deals with the teacher’s procedures to involve the students in the construction of knowledge which focuses on linguistic and cultural otherness.   Finally, a comparative perspective is adopted. On the one hand, the two different activities are compared with each other, while on the other hand, the findings from class A are compared with class B and C. From a dialogical point of view, the way in which the classroom setting and the teachers’ acting can favour intercultural understanding is discussed.   The results of the analyses highlight the fact that teachers seem to pay more attention to linguistic otherness than to cultural otherness. Furthermore, the study shows that the foreign language classroom has a dialogical potential when it comes to human relations and discourse. More attention could be paid to these aspects of teaching in order to pave the way for better intercultural understanding. The teachers in the present study seem to favour dialogical relationships in the classroom and neglect discursive issues in the situation. Our conclusion is that the way in which teachers deal with otherness is tradition-bound. Texts, for instance, even those with an obvious intercultural content, are treated as pre-texts for studying linguistic phenomena. Cultural phenomena, when dealt with, are limited to a product paradigm and are transmitted without reflection and with no apparent awareness of any intercultural understanding.

This dissertation investigates the effects of instruction on the acquisition of pragmatic competence in the classroom setting, and specifically in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom. In particular, we examine the effects of instruction on learners' pragmatic development of a specific speech act, that of suggestions, with the goal of expanding the range of learning targets addressed in pragmatic interventional studies (Kasper and Rose, 2002). Apart from dealing with instructional effects, we also take into account the need to investigate various types of instruction in order to ascertain their effectiveness (Kasper and Rose, 2002). In this way, we analyse two different treatments (i.e. explicit and implicit) that have been operationalised on the basis of the principles underlying the paradigms of Focus on FormS and Focus on Form (Long, 1991, 1996, 1998; Doughty and Williams, 1998; Long and Robinson, 1998; Doughty, 2001). The aim of comparing both teaching approaches is to determine whether the two treatments are equally effective in developing learners' pragmatic competence regarding their production, awareness and confidence when judging the appropriateness of suggestions in different situations. Additionally, we are also concerned with issues related to research methodology and, bearing in mind findings from studies that observed task effects between oral and written production tasks (Houck and Gass, 1996; Sasaki, 1998; Safont, 2001), we have compared our learners' performance when making suggestions in two different tasks: an oral production task (i.e. phone messages) and a written production task (i.e. email).The results of the investigation indicate that, in comparison to the control group, both the explicit and implicit groups improved their pragmatic competence regarding their production, awareness and confidence when judging the appropriateness of suggestions in different situations. Moreover, comparing the explicit and implicit groups' performance in the post-test no statistical differences were observed between the two instructional treatments, which illustrates the effects of both explicit and implicit instruction to develop learners' pragmatic competence in the EFL classroom. The findings also show that the production task in which learners are engaged influences their use of suggestions, since there were task effects between the two production tasks employed in our study (i.e. phone messages and emails). In conclusion, the results obtained in this dissertation expand the scope of enquiry in the field of interlanguage pragmatics as well as outline practical pedagogical implications and open several lines of investigation to be examined in future research.

Firstly, in this study, foreign language listening and speaking anxiety levels of the non-native EFL instructors working at preparatory schools of two state and two private universities in Turkey were discovered. Next, if their L2 learning contexts, English-speaking country experience, the length of their teaching experience and the institution they work at affect their listening and speaking anxiety levels was scrutinized. Secondly, these EFL instructors&rsquo / perceived competencies in teaching listening and speaking skills were identified. In addition, the effect of different variables on their perceived competency levels such as their undergraduate departments, their participation in graduate studies and in-service teacher training programs, the length of their teaching experience and also the institutions where they work was analyzed. Besides, the relationship between the listening and speaking anxiety levels of these instructors, and their self-reported competency levels in teaching these skills was explored. Finally, this study identified the EFL instructors&rsquo / frequency of addressing listening and speaking skills in listening and speaking tasks in the lessons according to the curriculum of the institution where they work in order to discover its relationship with the instructors&rsquo / perceived competency levels in teaching these skills. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected through a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews, both of which were used in a complementary fashion in this study. In addition, a total of 150 non-native EFL instructors participated in the questionnaire phase of the study and nine instructors from the participant universities were interviewed. The findings of this study indicated that the participant instructors experience moderate level of foreign language listening and speaking anxiety. Moreover, these instructors&rsquo / L2 learning contexts, English-speaking country experience and their length of teaching experience significantly influence their foreign language listening and speaking anxiety levels. Furthermore, the instructors perceive themselves as competent in terms of teaching listening and speaking skills and their participation in in-service teacher training programs, graduate studies and their length of teaching experience were found to be the contributors of their competence. In addition, a moderate level of negative relationship between foreign language anxiety levels of the instructors, and their self-reported competencies in teaching listening and speaking skills was identified. Finally, a positive relationship was explored between the frequency of the instructors&rsquo / addressing listening and speaking skills in the classroom considering the curriculum of their institutions and their perceived competency levels in teaching these skills. In this sense, the results demonstrated the effect of the institution and the curriculum on the instructors&rsquo / perceived competency levels in terms of teaching listening and speaking skills.

The overall aim of the present study is to investigate how teachers deal with linguistic and cultural otherness in the French foreign language classroom at upper secondary school level in Sweden. The foreign language classroom is seen as a cultural meeting place where images of otherness are natural elements. In this respect, otherness should be regarded as one cultural aspect among others implying human as well as language phenomena. Analyzing the way in which the teachers in the study mediate this otherness to their students is expected to contribute to the pedagogical debate on intercultural understanding in language teaching and learning.   The study is based on empirical data consisting of video recorded observations in three different classrooms. One class (class A) is treated as primary data where two activities are especially focused, namely working with texts and working with grammar. The verbal interaction from these activities has been transcribed and analyzed qualitatively. The first step of analysis concerns the learning aims which are transmitted to the students in the teacher’s introduction to the two activities. The second step deals with the teacher’s procedures to involve the students in the construction of knowledge which focuses on linguistic and cultural otherness. Finally, a comparative perspective is adopted. On the one hand, the two different activities are compared with each other, while on the other hand, the findings from class A are compared with class B and C. From a dialogical point of view, the way in which the classroom setting and the teachers’ acting can favour intercultural understanding is discussed. The results of the analyses highlight the fact that teachers seem to pay more attention to linguistic otherness than to cultural otherness. Furthermore, the study shows that the foreign language classroom has a dialogical potential when it comes to human relations and discourse. More attention could be paid to these aspects of teaching in order to pave the way for better intercultural understanding. The teachers in the present study seem to favour dialogical relationships in the classroom and neglect discursive issues in the situation. Our conclusion is that the way in which teachers deal with otherness is tradition-bound. Texts, for instance, even those with an obvious intercultural content, are treated as pre-texts for studying linguistic phenomena. Cultural phenomena, when dealt with, are limited to a product paradigm and are transmitted without reflection and with no apparent awareness of any intercultural understanding.

The topic of this thesis is the use of translation from a foreign language as a tool to improve textual competence in the mother tongue. The first part deals with the evolution of foreign language teaching, the status of mother tongue in foreign language teaching, positive cross-linguistic transfer and interference. Further, the concept of the method is defined and different methods of foreign language teaching are described. It's specified whether the mother tongue and translation exercises are or are not used while using each of the listed teaching methods. The second part defines translation and categorizes types of translation and contains various types types of translation exercises. The last part is focused on stylistics (narrative techniques, writing genres and functional styles). A sample of translation from Czech into Spanish and vice versa is supplied for a majority of the functional styles.

Cette thèse s’attache à comprendre les dynamiques au sein du système de la pensée enseignante des enseignants de langues étrangères (LE) à l’aide d’un dispositif de suivi multimodal et longitudinal. Situé en didactique des langues et notamment en pensée enseignante, ce travail est inscrit dans un cadre théorique multidisciplinaire où est postulée une cohabitation du socioconstructivisme et de l’émergentisme. Dans le but de saisir les aspects évolutifs des représentations de six enseignants de français langue étrangère (FLE) et de chinois langue étrangère (CLE) en Chine et en France, des moyens d’observation et d’entretiens – semi-directifs et d’auto-confrontation – ont été mobilisés pour chacun des enseignants durant un semestre. Leurs discours de verbalisation ont été analysés selon une approche double conjuguant l’analyse de contenu et l’analyse du discours. A côté d’une image de soi pluri-identitaire et instable, se dessine un système de connaissances et de convictions dont la construction et le fonctionnement portent la marque de l’historicité, de la subjectivité, de la contextualité et des contradictions. La théorie de l’activité trouve sa validité dans la répartition du travail basée sur les profils des apprenants-collaborateurs typifiés ; le poids de l’action incorporée se traduit par l’effet envisagé que l’enseignant souhaite atteindre à l’issue de l’action. La non-linéarité de l’évolution contextuelle va de pair avec l’actualisation des pratiques et des représentations. La complexité de la pensée enseignante est articulée autour d’une dynamique entre l’intentionnalité, l’action incorporée et les contraintes contextuelles. La rupture de la réflexivité au cours de l’action, découverte en neurosciences, et validée ici par la mise en place de méthodologies en sciences humaines et sociales, constitue à ce titre la contribution majeure de ce travail. / This dissertation is devoted to reconstructing the dynamics of foreign language teachers’ thinking by a multimodal and longitudinal approach. Focused on the field of Applied Linguistics and teacher cognition in particular, the present work is part of a multidisciplinary theoretical framework co-constructed of Social constructivism and Emergentism. This study involved six teachers of French as a foreign language (FFL) and Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) working in China and in France, each being followed up for one semester, through classroom observation and different kinds of interviews (semi-directive interviews and stimulated recall). Their verbalization was then analyzed by a mixed approach combining content analysis and discourse analysis. Besides an instable self-image characterized by multi-identity, emerge from each teacher’s discourse a knowledge and belief system and its historicity, subjectivity, contextuality and contradiction. The validity of Activity Theory is confirmed by a division of labour based on learners’ profiles that the teacher typifies. The importance of embodied action is dependent on the expected outcome. Teachers wish to not only complete their teaching activity but also reach an effect which is an integrated part of their thinking patterns. The non-linearity of context changing explains the updating of teacher’s thinking and practice. Teacher cognition’s complexity is structured around a dynamic between intentionality, embodied action and situational constraints. The break of reflexivity during action, discovered in neurosciences and validated here in a human and social sciences’ methodology, constitutes the key contribution of this work.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T20:25:09Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 3669.pdf: 4877003 bytes, checksum: a67404caf65bb11f261ea4fb3c8c785a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-08-31 / The present work describes a qualitative research on the training of teachers of English Language (henceforth EL) who deals with the Elementary School I. Initially, we intend to develop a historical background on the Postmodern Society on multicultural context. For this, there will be a brief history on the socio-cultural context of the child that is inserted in this society. After that, we will point to the importance of teaching foreign language for Children (hereinafter LEC), ie, the current reasons that have led to increasing numbers of children learning a foreign language (FL). Moreover, will be explicit the literacy teacher's LEC, in which the focus will be turned to the professional who teaches English classes in early grades. This route will remain to the desired skills that are expected from educators. Results of previous studies (Rocha, 2006; Santos, 2005) about teaching English to children point to the need to investigate more closely the skills of this professional, licensed by Modern Languages and Literatures programs. However, despite a degree in English during the graduation, the teacher receives the training to work only with elementary school students II. Moreover, the professionals of Education - enabled to work with children of elementary school I - are not trained in their graduation to teach foreign languages. Thus, both professionals - educated in Modern Languages and Literatures and Pedagogy - appear to be defective as regards their competence to teach English Language to children from 1st to 5th year. Thus, it was deemed important to monitor the work of three professors of LEC (English) in order to 1) identify the profile of the teacher who works with the teaching of English in the early grades, and, 2) investigate the process of teaching learning of Foreign Languages in Elementary School regarding the approach of the teacher who acts in this area. For data collection were selected two schools, one of the municipal and the other a private school had in it program the teaching of English for children from 1st to 5th year. In these schools, were investigated the work of three teachers, one educator and two graduates of Arts - Portuguese / English. Four instruments were used for data collection: observation of tuition through video recordings and audio, quizzes (with teachers) and interviews (with the coordinator and the teachers), to obtain data regarding the preparation of educators, as well as the goal pursued by the school to implement the teaching of English. Furthermore, were recorded daily research, aiming for better monitoring and observation of classes. Later there was a triangulation of data, which related to the literature, form the basis for the delivery of research. / O presente trabalho relata uma pesquisa de cunho qualitativo sobre a formação do professor de Língua Inglesa (doravante LI) que atua junto ao Ensino Fundamental I. Inicialmente, pretende-se desenvolver uma trajetória histórica sobre a Sociedade Pós- Moderna no contexto Multicultural. Para isso, será realizado um breve histórico do contexto sócio-cultural da criança inserida nessa sociedade. Em seguida, será apontada a importância do ensino de Língua Estrangeira para Criança (doravante LEC), ou seja, as atuais razões que têm levado ao aumento do número de crianças aprendendo uma língua estrangeira (LE). Além disso, será explicitado o letramento desenvolvido pelo professor de LEC e as práticas pedagógicas implementadas junto aos alunos nas séries iniciais, em que o foco será voltado para o sujeito que leciona inglês nas séries iniciais da Educação Infantil. Resultados de estudos anteriores (Rocha, 2006; Santos, 2005) sobre o ensino de inglês para crianças apontam para a necessidade de se investigar mais atentamente as competências desse profissional, egresso do curso de Letras. No entanto, apesar de licenciado em língua inglesa, durante a graduação, esse professor recebe a formação para trabalhar somente com alunos do Ensino Fundamental II. Por outro lado, os profissionais da área de Pedagogia - habilitados para o trabalho com crianças do Ensino Fundamental I - não são capacitados, em sua formação, para o ensino de línguas estrangeiras. Desse modo, ambos os profissionais o de Letras e o de Pedagogia - parecem apresentar lacunas no que se refere a sua formação para ensinar Língua Inglesa a crianças do 1º ao 5º anos. Assim, julgou-se relevante acompanhar o trabalho de três professoras de LEC (inglês) com o intuito de: 1) investigar o perfil do professor que atua no ensino de inglês nas séries iniciais; e, 2) investigar o processo de ensino-aprendizagem de Línguas Estrangeiras no Ensino Fundamental I, no que se refere à abordagem utilizada pelo professor prática do professor que atua nessa área. Para a coleta de dados foram selecionadas duas escolas, sendo uma da rede municipal e a outra de ensino particular, que possuíam em sua grade o ensino da língua inglesa para crianças nas séries iniciais. Nessas escolas, acompanhou-se o trabalho de três professoras, uma pedagoga e duas licenciadas em Letras Português/Inglês. Foram utilizados quatro instrumentos para coleta dos dados: observação de aula por meio de gravações em vídeo e áudio, questionários (com as professoras) e entrevistas (com a coordenadora e as professoras), para a obtenção de dados a respeito da formação do educador, assim como o objetivo visado pela escola ao implantar o ensino da língua inglesa. Além disso, foram registrados diários de pesquisa, visando a um melhor acompanhamento e observação das aulas. Posteriormente houve uma triangulação dos dados obtidos, que, relacionados com o levantamento bibliográfico, servirão de base para o encaminhamento da pesquisa.

Orientador: Mariângela Braga Norte / Resumo: Esta pesquisa tem como objetivo verificar se o estudo autônomo é desenvolvido e como isso se realiza pelos estudantes de Espanhol como Língua Estrangeira, num curso que visa a formação de professores. A possibilidade desta pesquisa surgiu a partir de algumas inquietações relacionadas ao processo de ensino-aprendizagem de línguas estrageiras. Tal tipo de investigação foi possível através de leituras acerca da Pesquisa Heurística, que proporciona o auto-conhecimento do pesquisador e as implicações de suas características pessoais com o objeto investigado, conforme ensina Moustakas (1990). Utilizo, também, nesta pesquisa, a metodologia qualitativa. Os dados coletados estão a cargo de observações da sala de aula, respostas a questionários específicos e entrevistas áudio-gravadas. Todos estes dados convergem para uma análise interpretativista, com as intervenções necessárias para modificar certas situações, quando necessário. Este é o modelo indicado pela pesquisa-ação, pontuada por Thiollent (2003)... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract:The purpose of this research is to investigate whether students enrolled in a University Spanish Language and Literature Teacher Education Course engage themselves in self-study activities and, in positive case, how and in what extent they do it. The inicial adea for this work was raised in answer to my concern about foreign language learning and teaching questions and processes. The development of the investigation is related to Heuristic survey which brings the possibility of including the researcher's personal history as part of the study, as pointed out of Moustaka's (1990). The metodology is grounded on a qualitative approach. Data were gathered through classroom observation, questionaries and audio-recorded interviews, on an action-research basis (THIOLLENT, 2003)... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

Music is integral to our lives, whether by listening to it, singing, or playing an instrument. In addition to this, music has effect on brain development and language learning. The aim of this thesis is close evaluation of relation between the development of musical and foreign language skills in case of primary age students. Through conducting an examination of the ability to gain foreign language skills using different ways of teaching musical education. 5th grade students who participated were divided into 3 groups. They differed in intensity and approach to music education. The first group had one singing lesson per week. The other two groups had as part of their lessons singing and also playing instruments such as flute and Orff instruments, and had movement education as part of their lessons. These two groups differed in intensity - 1 and 3 lessons per week. To note most of the students that had higher intensity of music education focused to music also in their after school activities. The three groups had the same amount of English lessons in all grades. Students were tested via Cambridge test "Movers" in listening, reading and writing. Analysis of data emerged generally better results in English test in case of students experiencing extended musical education. KEYWORDS teaching music,...