England’s long history of education has witnessed many conflicts in regard to language teaching. In this thesis, I investigate the conflicts surrounding two language education reform movements, Language Awareness and Knowledge About Language, during the Conservative administration between 1979 and 1997. The investigation examines official and non-official plans and policy texts produced by various groups and actors, notably Hawkins and Cox, that detail how the teaching of ‘Language’ should be conducted in England’s state school curriculum. The focus of the research is upon identifying what LA and KAL were as pedagogical concepts; why LA was reconstituted as KAL; what the motives underpinning these various plans and policies were; and finally, why efforts to establish LA and KAL were resisted. In the effort to make sense of this history, I draw theoretically and methodologically upon the work of Foucault, Fairclough, Bernstein and Ager. Limitations of my interpretation of this history notwithstanding, my findings revealed that LA was an educational reform movement that emerged from common schooling discourses, and one that sought to improve its educational provision. While LA was originally intended to be a subject in its own right that bridged the English and Foreign Language subject areas, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate reconstituted LA and placed its responsibility firmly within the English subject area. The motives underpinning LA and KAL planning and policy are varied. Those underpinning the policies, however, are distinctly ideological in nature, drawing a strong relationship between language education and democracy. Nearly all motives pertain to what Bernstein calls a competence model of education, the modes of which are notably attuned to addressing inequality and promoting social integration. LA and KAL were reforms that were both ill understood and resented, for varying and complex reasons, by educators and the Conservatives alike. The thesis closes with directions for future research.

This multiple-case study investigated six teachers’ perspectives on their teaching practices and cultural integration in a Chinese heritage language school. This research also explored how the teachers’ instructional practices were linked to Ladson-Billings’ theories on culturally relevant pedagogy (1994). Qualitative in nature, multiple data sources were included, such as semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, and teachers’ artifacts. Data analysis included both within- and cross-case analysis. Within-case analysis showed that each teacher had her particular method of fostering students’ language learning. They also had unique ways of teaching Chinese culture; one held that culture is embedded in literature, another held that culture is the daily life of a group of people, another held that culture is gained through reading, a fourth held that culture is transmitted from one generation to the next, another held that culture is analyzed in relation to other cultures, and, finally, one teacher perceived that culture is hybrid and multifaceted. Based on the central tenets of culturally relevant pedagogy, four themes emerged from the cross-case analysis: (a) motivational and skill-building strategies to promote academic success, (b) individual, plural, and progressive ways to integrate and reconceptualize Chinese culture, (c) rebalancing authority to share power with students, and (d) culture identity development to enhance self-empowerment. Despite the link between the current study and Ladson-Billings’ theory, differences were found. For example, the Chinese teachers viewed heritage language learning as a way to help students connect their family members rather than to become active agents in the larger society. Besides cultural facts, the teachers incorporated cultural virtues and cultural reconceptualization. Instead of focusing on questioning inequities, the teachers encouraged students to build harmonious relationship with other ethnic groups. As the existing studies emphasized minority education for Mexican and African American students, the present study shed new light on language and culture instruction for Chinese Americans. This study suggests four implications: (a) developing heritage language teachers’ professional knowledge about implementing a “student-centered” approach, (b) enhancing heritage language teachers’ critical cultural awareness, (c) investigating heritage language teaching from diverse sociocultural backgrounds, and (d) introducing the theory of culturally relevant pedagogy in heritage language education. / text

For many decades, college English teaching in China has been teacher-centered, mainly focusing on the enhancement of students’ four basic English language skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing, with little attention paid to the cultivation of students’ higher order thinking skills (Tang, 2016; Wang, Xu, & Zhou, 2016). The teacher-centered teaching approach has led to the problem that after having learned English for many years, students cannot speak English fluently (Dai, 2001). There has been a call for promoting the student-centered teaching model in China (NACFLT, 2000). One relatively new approach to support student-centered active learning is flipped instruction (Egbert et al., 2015). In a flipped classroom, the transmission of information in a traditional face-to-face class is moved out of class time, and the class time is devoted to engaging students in active learning to foster deeper understanding of course content and problem-solving skills. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the effects of the flipped classroom model on the learning of Chinese undergraduate students in a college English class. Using a purposeful sampling strategy, I selected a flipped English class in a private college in Shanghai, China, which can be regarded as a pioneer in promoting the flipped classroom model in China. I identified six second-year college students to be my respondents. During the six weeks of study in the fall semester of 2019, I collected data from multiple sources including one individual semi-structured open-ended interview with the instructor and each of the student participants, classroom observation, and documentation such as the teacher’s teaching plans, students’ journal entries, course projects, word maps and worksheets (both online or written ones). With a holistic analysis of the data collected, I explored students’ perceptions of the learning experiences in the flipped college English class, which lent an insight into the effects of the flipped classroom model on students’ learning. This study found that the teacher partly flipped her English class. Most of the learning of vocabulary and grammar was moved out of class. The learning of the articles in the textbook was partly flipped, with the initial understanding of the article done before class and the in-depth text analysis carried out in class. In class time, the teacher created an active learning environment with a variety of activities, encouraging students to think and speak English. The flipped learning tasks prepared students for the active learning in class, and the post-class learning tasks engaged students in further learning and thinking. All the six students regarded the teaching model as “original” and “helpful”. They perceived improved learning in the active learning environment in class. In addition, they perceived enhanced autonomy in learning, improvement in their English listening and speaking proficiency, and opportunities for cultivating higher order thinking skills. However, they were also faced with challenges in learning which they attributed to their low proficiency level of English listening and speaking. There was one outlier who preferred the traditional way of teaching and learning English, though he acknowledged the value of the teaching model adopted in this partly flipped English class.

In recent years, foreign language program evaluation has gained greater attention among language educators, program administrators, and evaluators. Increased demands for demonstrated program performance, often motivated by external forces, such as accreditation pressures and decisions regarding the allocation of funding, have led to heightened focus on foreign language program evaluation practices, methodologies, and results. Despite this increased attention, there are few published evaluation studies within the field of foreign language learning that have examined foreign language program effectiveness over time. This longitudinal study was designed to quantitatively investigate the performance of one Japanese university English for Academic Purposes (EAP) program over the 20-year span of the program’s existence. Quantitative evaluation methodologies and advanced statistical procedures were utilized to examine changes in student English proficiency, as measured by the Institutional Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL ITP) and English achievement, as measured by four semesters of EAP course grades, as students progressed through the two-year program. Twenty cohorts of students (cohort n-sizes ranging from approximately 250 to 550 students) were included in this study. The comprehensive data set included three repeated-measures of the TOEFL ITP and four English achievement grade point averages (GPAs) for each of the 20 cohorts. The research questions for this expansive longitudinal study addressed two levels of inquiry. First, at the program-global level, this study sought to investigate patterns of English proficiency change within and between cohorts across the life of the program, and the extent that programmatic events and external influences might have impacted those patterns. For this investigation, TOEFL ITP results for three proficiency domains—listening, grammar, and reading—were chronologically charted for the 20 cohorts and time-series analyses were conducted. The results indicated that all cohorts demonstrated significant gains in the three proficiency domains by the end of the two-year program. However, the overall trends across the program’s 20-year history revealed gradual negative trajectories for grammar and reading proficiency. Events that were hypothesized to have influenced proficiency patterns were tested, including (a) the addition of a new department specialization, (b) changes to department admissions, (c) the entrance of students who experienced new national reforms at the secondary education level, and (d) department expansion. While listening proficiency patterns were unaffected, grammar and reading proficiency trends were negatively impacted by the start of the new specialization and changes to admissions procedures. The entrance of students who had experienced secondary educational changes had an initial negative impact on the grammar trend, but positive grammar and reading proficiency trends emerged from that point onward. It was speculated that these events, as well as larger population trends impacting Japanese universities, led to gradual shifts in program student demographics, which contributed to the observed changes in proficiency patterns. Also of interest was an examination of the concept of English achievement coherence—or the extent that student English achievement, as measured by English course grade point averages (GPAs)—can be used to assess course interrelatedness. English course GPA data was used to statistically derive three rival achievement coherence metrics. These metrics were then tested separately, using hierarchical linear modeling techniques, to examine the extent that achievement coherence might serve to mediate any proficiency variation observed across the 20 cohorts. There were no significant findings for two of the metrics tested, while the third metric was found to have a significant negative effect for reading proficiency. This finding directly contradicted the hypothesized outcome that a greater amount of coherence would serve to facilitate proficiency development. Given the significant negative reading trend that emerged across the life of the program, this result might suggest that larger influences affecting student demographic changes could outweigh any potential facilitative effects of coherence on proficiency outcomes. Following the program-global analyses, the second level of inquiry was at the cohort-specific level. Individual cohorts that had demonstrated comparatively high and low listening and reading proficiency gains were selected for follow-up analyses. The aim was to examine if differences in coherence at the cohort level might account for the contrastive proficiency gains attained. For each target cohort, a recursive path model, including the program’s 16 English courses and final proficiency outcome, was tested to examine English achievement interrelatedness and contributions to the final proficiency outcome. A greater number of significant paths and larger final model R2 coefficient would suggest more coherence. Additionally, for each target cohort, grade residuals analyses using linear regression methods were conducted to investigate grading consistency at the course level. A greater number of outlying grade cases could indicate that the course assessment schemes were not followed, which would suggest less cohort coherence. The results of these analyses for the pairs of contrastive listening gain and reading gain cohorts were compared, but no significant differences were found. While these analytical methods were determined to be useful for ongoing formative evaluation processes, the resulting measures were likely too broad to capture any meaningful differences in coherence between cohorts at the program-global level. / Teaching & Learning

The main objective of this study is to increase knowledge of how mother tongue as a school subject is constructed, legitimized and positioned at the policy level. Based on the analysis of governmental policy documents, the thesis deals with mother tongue instruction (MTI) in the Swedish compulsory school, its historical development and status among other language subjects. The study draws on the curriculum theory, which means that the focus lies on the relationship between content of the curriculum and the historical, social and cultural context in which it was conducted. Regarding MTI, I argue that it is located at an intersection among immigration, education and language policies and must, therefore, be viewed in the light of them. With curriculum theory and discourse analysis as theoretical and methodological framework, I examine governmental policy documents from the 1960s to the current curriculum (Lgr11). The result shows that the introduction of MTI (named “home language”) in Swedish school in the 1970s was a part of an immigration policy directed towards immigrant children in order to compensate their special needs. It was argued that mother tongue was crucial for children's personal development and learning. The subject was aimed at all pupils with the home language other than Swedish and was seen as “almost mandatory”. However, the effects of MTI became questioned in the 1980-90s, which led to decreased access to MTI for students that did not belong to national minority groups. The status of the subject was weakened; in fact, it had no natural place in the school schedule. Under this period, the individual’s freedom of choice became valued more than the equality among students. The third period of the MTI history started in the late 1990s when the government articulated its willingness to raise the status of the subject. At present, the practice of MTI is regulated not only by the curriculum but also by the school law and the language law. MTI is currently a part of language policy, which is aimed at language pluralism. Indeed, the development of bilingualism has been stated as the goal of MTI in every curriculum since Lgr69. In the meantime, other language subjects do not aim at promoting bilingualism. This means that bilingualism is something that minority groups should strive for, but nothing majority students need. The current curriculum emphasizes the mother tongue’s significance for language acquisition and for learning in general. The focus still lies on the mother tongue’s importance for individuals but not for the society. Moreover, there are no connections mentioned between MTI and future studies and job opportunities, as the case is for other language subjects. By comparing syllabuses for other school languages I concluded that MTI is constructed as a kind of support subject, rather than as a regular language subject.

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

The purpose of this report is to inform foreign language (FL) educators about students with learning disabilities (LD) so that instruction can better serve their needs. It applies this to Spanish FL education in the United States, examining reading performance due to the role of reading in academic success and the prevalence of reading LD. The report outlines reading models and the cognitive processes within these approaches to explain how students read. With this understanding, the report examines LD, focusing on the role of phonemic awareness in L1 and FL reading. It analyzes reading instruction in English and Spanish in order to evaluate existing FL strategies and propose new interventions. From this report, educators should gain an understanding of how LD in reading impacts FL and how reading could be better addressed in the Spanish FL classroom. / text

This paper examines the use of humor in the foreign language classroom. Humor is an essential part of culture and a sociolinguistic phenomenon that speaks to the uniqueness of a language and culture. Thus, I argue that an application of humor as an educational objective as well as an educational strategy in the foreign language classroom is valuable in order to lower learners' anxiety and to foster language learning through an increase in culture and humor competences and critical thinking skills. First, I define humor and explore its linguistic functions as well as psychological features and effects that need to be understood to make humor an integral part of a foreign language learning setting. My theoretical research is primarily based on Raskin's Semantic Sript-based Theory of Humor and general theories of incongruity and ambiguity. I further illustrate the effects of using humor in the classroom with psychological research and Krashen's affective filter theory. I then relate the effects of humor to the National Standards of Foreign Language Learning (1996). Eventually in a case study I demonstrate how parodies, as a specific type of humor, can be implemented in the foreign language environment. This is done through the examination of the German film parody "Sieben Zwerge" and it supports my argument that humor deserves an autonomous place in foreign language education as an educational objective and strategy. Finally, I discuss pedagogical recommendations. This paper explores the opportunities and effects of an incorporation of humor in the foreign language classroom. / text

This ethnographic study of language use and English language learners in Central Java, Indonesia examines globalization processes within and beyond language; processes of language shift and change in language ecologies; and critical and comprehensive approaches to the teaching of English around the world. From my position as teacher-researcher and insider-outsider in an undergraduate English Department and the community surrounding the university, I engaged in reflections with students and educators in examining local language ecologies; needs for and access to English language resources; and how English majors negotiated "double positionalities" as both members of a global community of English speakers and experts in local meaning systems within which English forms played a role. In order to understand English, language ecologies, and globalization in situ, I triangulated these findings with language and education policy creation and negotiation at micro-, meso- and macro- levels, (Blommaert, 2005; Hornberger & Hult, 2010; McCarty, 2011; Pennycook, 2001, 2010).Globalization is found to be part and parcel of the distribution of English around the world; however, English's presence around the world is understood to be just one manifestation of contemporary globalization. More salient are the internationalization of standards, global corporate and media flows of information, and access to educational and information resources. These are all regulated by the state which, while working to maintain an Indonesian identity, relegates local languages to peripheries in space and time, and regulates access to all language resources, creating an upward spiral of peripheralization wherein the levels of proficiency in local, national, and English languages represent access gained to state-provided educational resources.

<p>This quasiexperimental single group design study investigated the validity of the Vocabulary Levels Test (VLT) to identify fourth and fifth grade students who are at-risk in vocabulary development. The subjects of the study were 88 fourth and fifth grade students at one elementary school in Washington State. The Group Reading Assessment and Diagnostic Evaluation (GRADE), a previously validated vocabulary assessment with fourth and fifth grade students, was used to determine concurrent validity with two VLT subtests, the 2000 level and Academic Word Level. The two VLT subtests and GRADE vocabulary subtests were administered over one academic week near the end of the 2011-2012 school year. </p><p> Prior research has identified vocabulary knowledge and development as a key indicator in reading achievement. However, there is currently a lack of assessments able to identify students who are struggling with vocabulary development. The VLT is a well-established and researched vocabulary test which identifies levels of vocabulary knowledge, but it has been used exclusively with English language learners primarily at the university level. The study, therefore, expands on the current research base on the VLT with a new population to determine if the VLT is a valid vocabulary assessment for fourth and fifth grade students. </p>