Instructional quality is essential for student learning. Pedagogical Content Knowledge, which is considered the interim between knowledge and pedagogy has been found to have a positive impact on instructional quality and subsequently student achievement. Studies in Pedagogical Content Knowledge have been mainly targeted on mathematics and science, leaving the language education domain underrepresented. From a comparative perspective, this study investigated Greek heritage language teachers ́ Pedagogical Content Knowledge, taking into consideration their teaching experience. Data collected by interviews, undertaken by nine participants, showed that teachers employ their Pedagogical Content Knowledge mostly by adapting the material, instruction, and assessment to the individual needs of the students. The analysis also suggested differences between more and less experienced teachers. More experienced teachers were found to be more comfortable and autonomous in the classroom, while less experienced teachers mentioned feeling insecure and fearing unexpected situations. More experienced teachers also established more advanced Pedagogical Content Knowledge, because of their ability to connect the new information with previous knowledge of the students as well as using personalized assessment for students. The data also showed that heritage language teachers in Sweden face many challenges in their teaching, with heterogeneity in language proficiency being the most persistent. The implications suggested in this study aim to improve heritage language learning and developing a supportive system for teachers and students in order to avoid the language shift that is present threatens the vitality of heritage languages.

This study reviews concepts of bilingualism, summarizes various models of translation competency, and quantifies the difference of translation competency among students and graduates of Brigham Young University. By means of a survey about language history and a translation test from Spanish to English, data from 57 participants was collected and analyzed to measure the effect of formal language education and translation training. Despite numerous proposed models of translation competency (Wilss 1976, 1989; Koller, 1979; Krings, 1986; Lörscher, 1991; Toury, 1991; Pym, 1991, 1992, 2003, 2013; Kiraly, 1995; Fraser, 1996; Neubert, 2000; Kelly, 2005; Hague et al., 2011; Pietrzrak, 2015), few have attempted to quantify differences in translation competency. Those that have measured translation competency have either focused on younger speakers (Malakoff & Hakuta, 1991; Valdés, 2003), untrained heritage speakers (Gasca Jiménez, 2019), or established language professionals (PACTE, 2017). This study sought to quantify differences in translation competency of university students; the results show considerable differences according to specific variables such as progress in the Spanish Translation program, the number of Spanish classes taken, and native language when comparing number of errors, number of critical errors, mistranslation errors, and grammar and spelling errors. By identifying the strengths and needs of different groups of bilingual English and Spanish speakers, this study hopes to improve translation training programs and inform language industry practices.

The purpose of this study was to understand how young children bridge belonging and language in a dual language immersion (DLI) setting. I developed a 10-week ethnographic study in a Spanish-English third-grade class in the Northeast of the U.S. where data was collected in the form of field notes, interviews, and artifacts. Here I explored the way language instruction and student participation influenced the development of the teacher and students’ multiple identities. The findings of this study suggest that emergent bilinguals’ identity development derives from the process built through multiple dialogic classroom instruction and practices. The products of this process emphasize the sense of belonging and language practices as main components of students’ hybrid and fluid identities. This research contributes to the field of identity development and DLI studies in terms of knowledge, policy, and practices. In particular, the findings of this study: (a) increase our knowledge of students’ multiple identities development in DLI settings; (b) impact policy implementation in elementary schools; and (c) reveal classroom strategies and successful instructions in elementary education.

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This dissertation explores the effect of visuals on test-takers’ L2 listeningprocesses. It uses a mixed methods design, following a concurrent transformative model (Creswell & Poth, 2018). There are three components to the study. The first is a comparison of group performance, aiming to shed light on how test-takers’ test performance may be affected by the inclusion of visuals. A total of 190 undergraduate students in China took part in this component. After being randomly and evenly placed in two groups according to their estimated proficiency level, their listening ability was assessed by a pre-test. They then took one of the two versions of a post-test, one where the participants could both see and hear the speakers, and the other one where they could only hear the speakers. A comparison of the two groups’ post-test scores using ANCOVA showed that the audio-visual participants scored significantly higher than the audio-only participants on the post-test. This indicates that the inclusion of visuals significantly enhanced the participants’ test performance. The second component of the study is a retrospective cued recall that investigatestest-takers’ specific listening processes. Ten participants in each group were randomly selected to join this part to the study. Their post-test test-taking processes were recorded and served as the stimuli for them to recall their viewing patterns, note-taking practice, identification of authentic features, and question-answering approaches. The comparisons between the two groups showed individual and group similarities, along with differences in every aspect of the listening processes. The last component is an analysis of the notes taken by the test-takers. Thequalitative participants’ notes taken during the post-test were rated regarding the correct levels of information noted, overall organization, and irrelevant and incorrect information noted. Using Spearman’s correlations, the note quality was correlated with the post-test scores in each condition. No significant correlations were found. This indicates that there was no substantive relationship between the participants’ note quality and test scores. Based on the results of the study, I advocate for the practice of including visualsin L2 listening tests, and an expansion of the construct definition of academic lecture listening to include the assessment of test-takers’ ability to understand visual cues. I also propose a five-dimension authenticity scale to measure the authenticity level of L2 listening input used on L2 listening tests. The study also has several other practical implications that are useful for L2 listening research, test development, and teaching and learning. Key limitations are acknowledged and discussed, and future research directions are suggested. / Teaching & Learning

This dissertation study explored the feasibility of using authenticated spoken texts to test L2 Chinese listening comprehension. The spoken texts used in the study were created using an “authenticating” technique, in which scripted spoken Chinese texts were infused with characteristics of real-world, unscripted spoken Chinese. In the first part of the study, 101 “naïve” L1 Chinese speakers reported their attitudes toward various characteristics of the scripted spoken texts and the authenticated spoken texts in a survey questionnaire. Comparisons of the L1 Chinese participants’ attitudes showed that they believed that the authenticated spoken texts were more authentic-sounding than the scripted texts in every measure. This indicates that the authenticity of scripted spoken texts normally used in L2 listening tests can be enhanced by using the text authentication technique. In the second part of the study, L2 listeners’ test performance and listening and test-taking processes during the post-test were examined. For the quantitative data, 184 intermediate and advanced adult L2 Chinese learners completed two listening tests (one pre-test assessing their listening proficiency and one post-test) and questionnaires tapping into their use of listening strategies and test-taking strategies. For the qualitative data, stimulated verbal recalls and verbal reports were employed to elicit another 16 L2 listeners’ verbalizations of their listening and test-taking processes. The comparison of the test scores showed that the listening test using authenticated spoken text as listening input was significantly more difficult than the same test using scripted spoken texts. The comparisons of the questionnaire results showed that the test-takers did not differ in their use of listening strategies and test-taking strategies. Aligned with the quantitative results, the verbal recalls showed that the two groups, despite hearing spoken texts with different degrees of scriptedness, did not adjust their use of listening strategies and test-taking strategies. However, the authenticated spoken texts elicited a greater reliance on lower-level processes compared to the scripted spoken texts. The last part of the study involving the same 16 L2 qualitative participants investigated text-related sources of bottom-up listening difficulties of the two experimental groups through a series of diagnostic listening procedures using L2 oral and written (typing) repetition tasks. It was found that, first, compared to the scripted group, the authenticated group had more phonological decoding difficulties due to connected speech; second, even though the authenticated group had more word segmentation difficulties, this type of listening difficulty seemed to be less severe for both groups compared to the difficulty of phonological decoding; and third, other features commonly found in unscripted spoken Chinese such as filled pauses and false starts did not seem to greatly impede participants’ bottom-up listening processes. The results from the three parts of the study and my experience creating authenticated spoken texts suggest that L2 Chinese test developers should include at least some authenticated spoken texts in their listening tests, because (a) they are more “authentic-sounding”; (b) high-proficiency L2 listeners with extensive Chinese second language learning experiences find them harder to comprehend than scripted texts; and (c) they elicit cognitive processes that better represent the processes in real-world listening. Additional practical and theoretical implications pertinent to test development and L2 Chinese listening instruction are also provided. / Applied Linguistics

Past theorists have shown through their work the versatility and advantages of utilizing pre-established schemata to form a novice’s interaction with and comprehension of a text. Schemata have shown to contribute to comprehension by means of four purposes: to disambiguate, to elaborate, to filter, and to compensate (Lee & VanPatten 1999). Furthermore, we see that these schemata, or formerly attained background knowledge, are integral parts of Coady’s ESL psycholinguistic reading model (1979) , as well as Carrel’s schema theory (1984). Previous studies done by Jimenez (2000) and that of Valdés (2001) with ESL/LEP students show that motivation for learning a second language is partly derived from the social environment in which students are participants. Valdés’ study in particular supports a Funds of Knowledge Approach (Moll et. al. 1994), which stresses the need for increased attention on the social environment of the student. The present study focuses on novel L2 lexical item decoding. Students will be given a “pre-study” questionnaire in order to ascertain knowledge of and ability level of Spanish. Novices will encounter the lexical items in two different short texts. One will activate a known “social schema”, while the other will be a text for which students will not have a background structure. There will be the same amount of novel lexical items in both texts, and each text will be of the same level. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to investigate whether, and how, students interpret the meanings of novel lexical items when they are presented in a “socially tailored” text. This new “socio-schematic approach” to L2 lexical item decoding can contribute to the stages of Reading Skill and Acquisition outlined by ACTFL. By applying this “socio-schematic approach”, implications for foreign language learning can be linked to the stages of ACTFL.

The Swedish upper secondary school is becoming more digitalized, and the use of digital teaching materials is being questioned and debated by many, including the Swedish school minister. Therefore, with this study, we aim to investigate how upper secondary students experience the use of digital teaching materials in the subject of Swedish. We also aim to study the challenges and possibilities students are experiencing connected to the use of digital teaching material. The theoretical framework of this study investigates the students’ experiences with a phenomenological approach with the theoretical concepts ”digital literacy” and ”spatial stability”. Seven upper secondary students participated in semi-structured interviews, then a thematic analysis was conducted. The findings of the study show that upper secondary students have varied experiences with digital teaching material, and that digital teaching material has both positive and negative implications. In the study, it became evident that both the students and the digital teaching material is engaged in, and interacting within a digital ecology. This digital ecology is created and navigated by the teacher, which furthermore could lead to challenges for the students’ digital literacy development. Some students are also experiencing spatial instability due to the teaching material’s fragmentary form. Lastly, the study shows that while working with digital teaching material, students sometimes experience challenges with digital distractions. Some students have developed a strategy of ”digital pauses” to encounter these distractions.

The purpose of this study is to investigae the relationship between Latin and French, between Latin and Spanish, and to evaluate the assumption of many language teachers that high school pupuls who have had one year of Latin tended, on the whole, because of that fact, to do better academic work in Franch and Spanish as measured in terms of marks received, than did pupils who had not studied Latin.

京都大学 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(人間・環境学) / 甲第23986号 / 人博第1038号 / 新制||人||244(附属図書館) / 2022||人博||1038(吉田南総合図書館) / 京都大学大学院人間・環境学研究科共生人間学専攻 / (主査)教授 西山 教行, 教授 柳瀬 陽介, 教授 倉石 一郎, 教授 ダニエル ムーア / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Human and Environmental Studies / Kyoto University / DFAM