The teaching of freshman composition can be a challenging and exciting endeavor if teachers are aware of current linguistic facts about the nature of language variations manifested by their students and the linguistic shortcomings of many textbooks. Awareness of the distinction of linguistic competence and linguistic performance can aid teachers in making freshman composition more realistic to students. These concepts are technically explained in Aspects of the Theory of Syntax by Noam Chomsky (1965), and are applied to dialect for teachers of composition by the Committee on CCCC Language Statement in Students' Right to Their Own Language (1974). With knowledge of linguistic principles, teachers can respond to their students' dialects humanistically and realistically and can teach academic English without making impressionistic and incorrect statements about non-academic variations from their students.

Denna studie bygger på andraspråksinlärares skriftliga kompetens kopplad till syntaktiska och kommunikativa nivåer. I synnerhet är syftet att studera språkliga syntaktiska nivåer i texter skrivna av andraspråksinlärare som har behörighet att studera vid universitet. Ytterligare ett syfte är att studera om innehållet i texter kan förmedlas på ett kommunikativt och idiomatisk sätt. Den teoretiska ramen för att mäta syntaktiska nivåer som informanter i denna studie har uppnått bygger på processbarhetsteorin (Pienneman, 1998/ Pienneman & Håkansson, 1999). Studien visar att godkända texter i Svenska som andraspråk B och Tisustest uppnår nivå 4 och 5 på syntaktisk nivå.   Studien visar också på variation av kommunikativ kompetens utifrån förmågan att förmedla ett central innehåll. Informanterna uppnår delvis målspråksnormen och delvis avviker från målspråksnormen i varierad grad vilket påverkar den kommunikativa kompetensen. Det mesta av resultatet pekar på individuella skillnader. Vad som kan förklara skillnader mellan informanterna kan delvis kopplas till varierad kognitiv svårighetsgrad i texterna. Studien visar att processbarhetsteorin kan vara ett fördelaktigt verktyg för att mäta syntaktiska nivåer i texter. Dock pekar studien på att det är av vikt att också genomföra en mer omfattande bedömning av kommunikativa språkkunskaper för att kunna göra en helhetsbedömning av skriftlig språkkompetens av andraspråksinlärare. / The present study concerns second language learners' syntactic and communicative competence in writing. The aim is to study syntactic performances in texts written by learners of Swedish as a second language permitted to study at university. Another aim is to discuss the communicative and idiomatic performances of the informants.   The theoretical framework used for assessment of achieved syntactic levels is the Processability Theory (Pienneman, 1998/Pienneman & Håkansson, 1999). The results reveal that the students who´s texts in Svenska som andraspråk B[1]and the Tisustest[2]have passed the exam have achieved either syntactic level 4 or 5 according to Processability Theory.    The study also reveals the variety of communicative and idiomatic competence based on the ability to convey a core content. The informants partly achieve and partly do not achieve the Swedish language norms, in various degrees, which effects the level of communicative competence which they are able to express. The results point to more or less individual differences. There are small differences between the group of informants in Svenska som andraspråk B and in the Tisustest. Possible causes for these differences may partly be connected to the varying degree of cognitive difficulty in producing the different texts.   The study shows that the use of Processability Theory may be a beneficial tool to measure levels of syntactic proficiency levels in second language learner texts. However, it appears that it also is important to establish a comprehensive assessment of communicative language skills in order to make an overall assessment of written language skills of second language learners. [1]Swedish as a second language, level B [2]Tisus - Test in Swedish for university studies.

This work aimed at investigating the relations between teaching practice and Language-communicative competence of Spanish Foreign Language teachers from the public school, through the inference of their beliefs. Therefore, we identified the beliefs about linguistic and communicative competence of teachers and, as a result, these beliefs were related to their performance reported by the participants themselves in the classroom. The participants of this study were two Spanish teachers, working in public schools in Santa Maria city, who performed the initial training in Letters-Spanish graduation at the Federal University of Santa Maria. The methodology used was a qualitative study of case, based on metacognitive approach beliefs research (BARCELOS, 2001). We applied a questionnaire to answer the main purpose. Secondly, a semi-structured interview was made. The results showed that these teachers believe Linguistic competence communicative is characterized by complementarity of linguistic and communicative component. This division into two components still carries a structuralist notion that considers the linguistic part precedes and prevails on the communications components and also that this is a belief that may have been caused by the influence of the nomenclature linguistic and communicative competence, by Almeida Filho (1993), adopted in this study. In relation to teaching practice reported by the teachers, it was found that the beliefs presented by the participants directly influence on performance. Thus, we concluded that the insufficient linguistic and communicative competence of the teacher leads to severe limitations in educational performance in relation to the oral performance. / Este trabalho teve por objetivo investigar relações entre prática docente e competência linguístico-comunicativa de professores de Espanhol Língua Estrangeira da escola pública, por meio da inferência de suas crenças. Para tanto, identificaram-se as crenças sobre a própria competência linguístico-comunicativa dos professores e, na sequência, essas crenças foram relacionadas com a atuação relatada pelos próprios participantes em sala de aula. Os sujeitos deste trabalho foram duas professoras de língua espanhola, atuantes em escolas públicas da cidade de Santa Maria, que realizaram a formação inicial no Curso de Letras-Espanhol da Universidade Federal de Santa Maria. A metodologia utilizada foi um estudo qualitativo de caso, baseada na abordagem metacognitiva de investigação de crenças (BARCELOS, 2001). Para responder ao objetivo principal, aplicou-se um questionário. Num segundo momento, realizou-se uma entrevista semi-estruturada. Os resultados mostraram que os professores acreditam que a competência linguístico-comunicativa caracteriza-se pela complementaridade do componente linguístico e do comunicativo. Essa divisão em dois componentes ainda carrega uma noção estruturalista que considera que a parte linguística antecede e tem primazia sobre os componentes comunicativos e, ainda, que essa é uma crença que pode ter sido originada pela influência da nomenclatura competência linguístico-comunicativa, de Almeida Filho (1993), adotada neste trabalho. Com relação à prática docente relatada pelas professoras, verificou-se que as crenças apresentadas pelas participantes influenciam diretamente na sua atuação. Nesse sentido, concluiu-se que a insuficiência na competência linguístico-comunicativa do professor leva a severas limitações na atuação docente no que se refere ao desempenho oral.

Диссертация посвящена анализу социально-политического и языкового аспекта иммиграции в США. В первой главе рассматриваются законодательные основы иммиграционной политики, поднимается вопрос о присвоении статуса «иммигранта», анализируется социальная парадигма иммигрантского населения США на текущий момент и выделяются основные группы иммигрантов в США. Вторая глава описывает специфику образовательной среды в США, а также в ней приводятся основные документы и рекомендации, представленные Министерством образования США, по обучению детей иммигрантов и детей с недостаточным уровнем владения английским языком. В третьей главе представлен анализ учебного пособия, в настоящее время используемого для обучения детей иммигрантов. Также в главе трактуется понятие «компетенция», выделяются ключевые компетенции, необходимые для успешного овладения английским языком. / The master’s thesis is devoted to the analysis of social, political, and linguistic aspects of immigration in the USA. The first chapter deals with the legal foundation of immigration policy, reveals the truth hidden behind the immigrant’s status, depicts today’s social paradigm of immigrants and classifies them into groups. The second chapter highlights peculiar features of American educational environment and presents the main documents and recommendations provided by the Ministry of Education concerning teaching children of immigrants and children with lower command of English. The third chapter analyzes the textbook used for teaching children of immigrants. The chapter also explains the term “competence” and provides key competences for English learners.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-28T19:33:33Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Gilvan Elias Pereira.pdf: 1404869 bytes, checksum: 13bff43f986db813f5b6c08568a3c0c4 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-12-14 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Based on a perspective that assumes a direct relationship between linguistic competence and success or failure at school, this research turns to the student in situation of failure and that has in low language competence (not the ability to make use of language in real situations of life, but to meet the demands required by the school) a central difficulty impeding academic success. To meet such a student in order to better understand what is behind the "alarming" statistics of school failure, we took into account the weight that language has when it comes to school and school learning and, therefore, the resulting need to consider the complexity of the relationship between school learning (in relation to knowledge) an language. It has been assumed that each student excluded or in situations of failure, has his own history is strongly marked, among other things, by the barriers that the low level of language proficiency has imposed. Results of the research (case study) conducted among students in situation of failure confirmed, therefore, that the stigma of student who does not learn, who cannot read and write with the skills required by the school but even so remains there on the edge of her "illiteracy" represents a small part of the qualitative picture of the excluding and selective school model still very present in Brazilian society and that should not be understood only by the logic of statistics or theories based on the exclusive assumption of social modeling / Com base em uma perspectiva que supõe a relação direta entre competência linguística e sucesso ou insucesso escolar, esta pesquisa volta-se para o aluno em situação de fracasso e que tem na baixa competência linguística (não a capacidade para fazer uso da língua em situações reais de vida, mas para responder às exigências requeridas pela escola) uma dificuldade central impeditiva do sucesso escolar. Para conhecer tal aluno com o intuito de compreender melhor o que está por trás das alarmantes estatísticas do fracasso escolar, levou-se em consideração o peso que a linguagem tem quando se trata de escola e de aprendizagem escolar e, portanto, a consequente necessidade de se ponderar a complexidade da relação entre escola, aprendizagem (relação com o saber) e linguagem. Considerou-se que cada aluno excluído ou em situação de fracasso possui sua história e que cada história dessas é marcada fortemente, entre outras coisas, pelas barreiras que o baixo nível de competência linguística impõe. Os resultados da pesquisa (estudo de caso) realizada entre alunos em situação de fracasso confirmaram, pois, que o estigma do aluno que não aprende, que não consegue ler e escrever com as competências requeridas pela escola, mas que ainda assim mantém-se nela à beira do analfabetismo , é um pouco do retrato qualitativo do modelo de escola excludente e seletiva ainda muito presente na sociedade brasileira e que não deve ser compreendida apenas pela lógica da estatística ou das teorias embasadas no pressuposto exclusivo da modelagem social

‘A critical review of language errors in the writing of distance education students’ examines linguistic competence and investigates the language errors made by a heterogeneous group of 100 entry-level distance education university students with a view to improving their academic writing skills. The research follows a process of error identification and statistical analysis, and reviews intervention strategies based on the findings. Despite the continuing debates on the value of error correction, especially in relation to ‘World Englishes’, language accuracy remains a key factor in determining academic success. This is of particular concern in the South African multi-lingual context and in the light of the under-performance of South African students as evidenced in international comparative studies. The implications of the bimodal pattern of distribution in the review findings are discussed and pedagogically appropriate approaches and intervention strategies are suggested. / English Studies / M.A. (TESOL (Teaching English to speakers of other languages))

Cette recherche s’intéresse à l’utilisation du conte dans le domaine de l’enseignement des langues étrangères. Elle s’appuie sur l’analyse d’un échantillon de contes d’origines algérienne et française pour démontrer le potentiel pédagogique de cette forme littéraire. L’analyse de notre corpus a permis de mettre en lumière les diverses exploitations du conte dans le domaine de la didactique des langues. En effet, grâce à son contenu culturel, ce genre littéraire est un excellent médiateur pour initier l’élève à la culture-cible. Nous avons expliqué que le conte était parfaitement adapté pour mener les élèves à prendre conscience des dimensions intertextuelle et interculturelle de l’oeuvre littéraire. En s’appropriant ces deux notions, les apprenants construisent une culture littéraire essentielle pour développer leurs compétences dans les domaines de la lecture et de l’écriture. Le conte permet aussi de proposer des exercices féconds qui concernent les domaines de lecture, d’écriture, ainsi que les aspects linguistiques.L’expérience pédagogique, menée auprès d’un public de collégiens en Algérie, a été l’occasion de valider notre hypothèse sur l’utilité des contes dans le domaine de l’enseignement des langues étrangères. En effet, l’instauration de notre dispositif pédagogique, basé sur l’exploitation d’une série de contes, a conduit les élèves à prendre conscience de l’intérêt de la mise en valeur de leur culture dans le domaine scriptural. L’analyse intertextuelle et interculturelle des contes proposés par les élèves dans la macro-tâche du post-test, indique leur reprise des motifs caractéristiques des contes arabes et européens. De même, nous avons constaté que les élèves avaient amélioré la qualité structurelle de leurs textes. En effet, l’analyse formelle de leurs écrits a permis de conclure que la majorité des apprenants avait produit des contes qui satisfont aux règles de la cohérence textuelle. Ce résultat indique que le conte est un genre qui convient pour conduire les élèves à produire des textes cohérents. Par ailleurs, la macro-tâche a également été un moyen pour vérifier l’évolution de leur compétence linguistique. Plus précisément, l’observation de leurs écrits indique qu’ils ont fait des progrès dans les domaines lexical et morphologique. En revanche, en ce qui concerne la syntaxe, les élèves nécessitent plus d’accompagnement pour maîtriser cet aspect de la langue-cible. / This research focuses on the use of storytelling in the field of teaching foreign languages. It is based on the analysis of a sample of stories from Algerian and French origins to demonstrate the pedagogical potential of this literary form.The analysis of our corpus has made it possible, to highlight the various storytelling operations in the area of language teaching.In fact, because of its cultural content, this literary type represents an excellent mediator to introduce students to the culture-target. We explained that storytelling was perfectly suited to help students become aware of the intertextual and intercultural dimensions of literary work. By appropriating these two concepts, learners build an essential literary culture to develop their skills in the reading and writing fields. Storytelling allows also to offer fruitful exercises in the reading and writing domains, as well as the linguistics aspects. The educational experience, conducted among a college students audience in Algeria, was an opportunity to validate our hypothesis on the usefulness of tales in the field of foreign languages teaching. Indeed, the establishment of our educational system, based on the exploitation of a series of tales, has led students to realize the value of enhancing their culture in the scripture domain.The intertextual and intercultural analysis of the tales proposed by the students in the macro-task of the post-test indicates their resumption of the grounds that are characteristic of the Arabic and European ones. Moreover, we found that students had improved the structural quality of their texts. Indeed, the formal analysis of their writings led to the conclusion that the majority of learners had produced stories that satisfied the rules of textual coherence.This result indicates that storytelling is an appropriate way to lead students to produce coherent texts. Furthermore, the macro-task has also been an efficient way to verify the evolution of their language skills.More specifically, the observation of their writings indicates that they have made progress in the lexical and morphological domains. On the other hand, students need more coaching, for all what is related to syntax, to control this aspect of the target language. / هذا البحث يتناول موضوع استعمال الحكايات في مجال تعليم اللغات الأجنبية. يستند هذا العمل على تحليل مجموعة من الحكايات تنتمي إلى الثقافتين الجزائرية و الفرنسية من أجل إيضاح مختلف الاستعمالات للحكاية في مجال تعليم اللغات الأجنبية. هذا النوع الأدبي يعد وسيلة ممتازة لتنمية معارف التلميذ فيما يتعلق بالثقافة الأجنبية. لقد شرحنا أن الحكاية مناسبة لتوعيته حول البعد التناصيّ و المتعدد الثقافات للنص الأدبي. بإدراكه لهاتين النقطتين، يُكوّن التلميذ ثقافة أدبية أساسية من أجل تنمية كفاءته في مجاليّ القراءة و الكتابة. الحكاية تسمح أيضا باقتراح تمارين خصبة تتعلق بمجالات القراءة، الكتابة و قواعد اللغة.التجربة البيداغوجية التي قمنا بها مع مجموعة من تلاميذ الطور الإكمالي، كانت فرصة لإثبات فرضيتنا حول فائدة الحكايات في مجال تعليم اللغات الأجنبية . استعمال نظام بيداغوجي يستند على مجموعة من القصص قاد التلاميذ لإدراك أهمية استغلال ثقافتهم في مجال الكتابة.التحليل التناصي و المتعدد الثقافات للحكايات المقترحة من طرف التلاميذ في التمرين النهائي يبرز اعادتهم لمقاطع أدبية تنتمي لحكايات غربية و أوروبية. لاحظنا أيضا أنّ التلاميذ اقترحوا حكايات تلتزم بقواعد الترابط النصي. هذه النتيجة تبيّن أنّ الحكاية هي جنس أدبي يناسب لقيادة التلاميذ نحو كتابة نصوص مترابطة. كما أنّ التمرين النهائي كان وسيلة لفحص تطور الكفاءة اللغوية عند التلاميذ الذين قاموا بتطوير مهاراتهم في مجالي اللغة و القواعد. لكن فيما يتعلق بمجال النحو، لقد لاحظنا أنّهم يحتاجون للمزيد من المرافقة حتى يتقنون هذا المجال اللغوي.

Η διδακτορική αυτή διατριβή πραγματεύεται έναν επικοινωνιακό-κειμενοκεντρικό τρόπο διδασκαλίας της γραμματικής στο Δημοτικό Σχολείο της Κύπρου και, κατ’ επέκταση, της Ελλάδας. Περιλαμβάνει λεπτομερή περιγραφή μίας πρότασης πειραματικής εφαρμογής της επικοινωνιακής-κειμενοκεντρικής προσέγγισης στην Γ΄ Δημοτικού, στην Κύπρο, βασισμένης στο παιδαγωγικό μοντέλο συστημικής-λειτουργικής γραμματικής της Αυστραλιανής Σχολής (του Halliday και των συνεργατών του), το οποίο εστιάζει στο κείμενο, ως προϊόν και κοινωνική διαδικασία, στο συγκείμενο, στη γραμματική των κειμενικών ειδών, στη γλωσσική επάρκεια και, ευρύτερα, στο γραμματισμό. Στο πλαίσιο της συγκεκριμένης πειραματικής εφαρμογής διεξήχθη ημιπειραματική έρευνα με προπειραματικό και μεταπειραματικό έλεγχο, με δύο φυσικώς ισοδύναμες ομάδες. Σκοπός της έρευνας ήταν να εξετάσει την αποτελεσματικότητα ερευνητικού προγράμματος επικοινωνιακής-κειμενοκεντρικής προσέγγισης της διδασκαλίας της γραμματικής ως προς τη γλωσσική επάρκεια (και τις δύο συνιστώσες της, τη γλωσσική ικανότητα και την επικοινωνιακή ικανότητα) των παιδιών που συμμετείχαν σε αυτή και ως προς το επίπεδο γραμματισμού τους, εν γένει. Η έρευνα ήταν ποσοτική. Μέσω ενός ειδικά καταρτισμένου δοκιμίου, που περιλάμβανε ποικιλία έργων και σχετικών ασκήσεων, μετρήθηκαν τόσο οι γλωσσικές όσο και οι επικοινωνιακές επιδόσεις των παιδιών των δύο ομάδων. Οι υποθέσεις της έρευνας εστίασαν σε ορισμένα γλωσσικής και επικοινωνιακής φύσεως εννοιακά υποεπίπεδα, συναρτήσει του ευρύτερου εννοιακού επιπέδου «γλωσσική επάρκεια», και σχετίζονται με τα ακόλουθα ερωτήματα: 1. Ποια είναι η επίδραση της επικοινωνιακής-κειμενοκεντρικής διδασκαλίας της γραμματικής στη γλωσσική ικανότητα που αντιστοιχεί στην ορθογραφική γνώση του διδασκομένου; 2. Ποια είναι η επίδραση της επικοινωνιακής-κειμενοκεντρικής διδασκαλίας της γραμματικής στη γλωσσική ικανότητα που αντιστοιχεί στην «αμιγώς γραμματική» (μορφοσυντακτική) γνώση (ή γνώση γραμματικών κανόνων παραδοσιακού τύπου) του διδασκομένου; 3. Ποια είναι η επίδραση της επικοινωνιακής-κειμενοκεντρικής διδασκαλίας της γραμματικής στη γλωσσική ικανότητα που αντιστοιχεί στη γνώση του διδασκομένου σε σχέση με τη μεταγλώσσα (βασική γραμματική ορολογία); 4. Ποια είναι η επίδραση της επικοινωνιακής-κειμενοκεντρικής διδασκαλίας της γραμματικής στο γενικό επίπεδο της γλωσσικής ικανότητας (γλωσσικές επιδόσεις) του διδασκομένου; 5. Ποια είναι η επίδραση της επικοινωνιακής-κειμενοκεντρικής διδασκαλίας της γραμματικής στην επικοινωνιακή ικανότητα του διδασκόμενου που αντιστοιχεί στη γνώση δόμησης γραπτού λόγου (άρα και παραγωγής γραπτών κειμένων) εντός επικοινωνιακού πλαισίου (και αναλύεται βάσει επιμέρους σχετικών δεικτών]; 6. Ποια είναι η επίδραση της επικοινωνιακής-κειμενοκεντρικής διδασκαλίας της γραμματικής στο γενικό επίπεδο της επικοινωνιακής ικανότητας (επικοινωνιακές επιδόσεις) του διδασκομένου; 7. Ποια είναι, εν τέλει, η επίδραση της επικοινωνιακής-κειμενοκεντρικής διδασκαλίας της γραμματικής στην καλλιέργεια της γλωσσικής επάρκειας του διδασκομένου; Τα ευρήματα της έρευνας, αναφορικά με τα παραπάνω ερωτήματα και στη βάση των υποθέσεών της, ειδικότερα, κατέδειξαν ότι υπήρξε στατιστικά σημαντική διαφορά ως προς: α. τις «γλωσσικές» και τις «επικοινωνιακές επιδόσεις» των παιδιών της Πειραματικής Ομάδας έναντι των αντίστοιχων επιδόσεων της Ομάδας Ελέγχου, κατά την τελική αξιολόγηση της γλωσσικής επάρκειάς τους (της γλωσσικής ικανότητας και της επικοινωνιακής ικανότητάς τους, αντίστοιχα) β. τις «γλωσσικές επιδόσεις» και τις «επικοινωνιακές» επιδόσεις των παιδιών της Πειραματικής Ομάδας, ανάμεσα στην αρχική και την τελική αξιολόγηση της γλωσσικής επάρκειάς τους (της γλωσσικής ικανότητας και της επικοινωνιακής ικανότητά τους, αντίστοιχα) γ. το τελικό γενικό επίπεδο γλωσσικής επάρκειας των παιδιών της Πειραματικής Ομάδας έναντι του αντίστοιχου επιπέδου της Ομάδας Ελέγχου δ. το αρχικό και το τελικό γενικό επίπεδο της γλωσσικής επάρκειας των παιδιών της Πειραματικής Ομάδας. Τα παραπάνω ευρήματα, όπως φαίνεται και από τη θεματική ανάλυση περιεχομένου των ποιοτικών δεδομένων που συλλέχθηκαν μέσω, κυρίως, της συμμετοχικής παρατήρησης και της συνέντευξης, η οποία ενισχύει σε μεγάλο βαθμό την εσωτερική εγκυρότητα της έρευνας, σχετίζονται, δυνητικά, με το όλο ερευνητικό πρόγραμμα και την πειραματική παρέμβαση καθαυτή. Γενικά, τα ποσοτικά και ποιοτικά ευρήματα της έρευνας επικυρώνουν την ανάγκη για στροφή από την επικοινωνιακή προσέγγιση στην κειμενοκεντρική προσέγγιση, με έμφαση στη ρητή διδασκαλία των κειμενικών ειδών και της γραμματικής τους, γεγονός το οποίο μπορεί να συμβάλει θετικά στην καλλιέργεια της γλωσσικής επάρκειας, και εν γένει του γραμματισμού. Μία τέτοια αλλαγή αναμένεται ότι θα επιτρέψει τον απεγκλωβισμό από το "πώς" της γραμματικής διδασκαλίας και θα δώσει απαντήσεις σε ερωτήματα όπως: "ποια είδη κειμένου πρέπει να διδάσκονται, σε ποια τάξη και με ποια σειρά". Η διατριβή εστιάζει συστηματικά στον προβληματισμό αυτό και καταθέτει τη δική της ολοκληρωμένη πρόταση για κειμενοκεντρική προσέγγιση της γραμματικής στην Γ΄ Δημοτικού, τάξη η οποία συνιστά ένα κομβικό σημείο στη γλωσσική αγωγή, αναγνωρίζοντας το ρόλο της γραμματικής διδασκαλίας στο γραμματισμό των παιδιών του δημοτικού σχολείου.Στην τελική αυτή πρόταση κυρίαρχη θέση έχει όχι απλώς η "παιδαγωγική του γραμματισμού" αλλά η "παιδαγωγική της γραμματικής του γραμματισμού", η οποία και θεμελιώνεται σε συγκεκριμένα κειμενολογικά κριτήρια. / This PhD thesis deals with a communicative-genre based way of grammar teaching in the Primary School of Cyprus and, additionally, of Greece. It describes in detail an experimental programme, which is based on the Hallidayian systemic-functional model of grammar and the relative Sydney School Theory, from a pedagogic perspective. For the application of the particular programme, which took place in Grade 3, a quasi experimental research was carried out. The design for this research was a pre test - post test, control group-experimental group design. The aim of the research was to examine the effectiveness of the particular experimental programme, regarding the student’s linguistic adequacy (and its two components, the linguistic competence and the communicative competence) and their literacy, in general. The research was quantitative. Via an appropriate test, that included various linguistic and communicative exercises, the linguistic competence and the communicative competence of all the students, who participated in the programme, were tested at the outset of the research. After the Experimental Group received an instruction which placed a strong emphasis on text, as a product and as a social process, context and grammar, for a three month period, both experimental and control group students were re-tested, in order to examine their literacy outcomes in various linguistic and communicative areas and subjects of linguistic adequacy, such as the orthographic knowledge, the grammatical knowledge, the metalinguistic knowledge and the knowledge for effective written text production. The main null hypothesis for the research stated that no change would take place, between the Experimental Group and the Control Group, in the competencies related to “knowledge about language” and “knowledge of the language use”, as a result of the Experimental Group's exposure to explicit grammar teaching and, specifically, to communicative and genre based strategies and activities. After the data were analysed, the main null hypothesis was rejected and the alternative hypothesis, positing that a significant positive change would take place in the Experimental Group’s literacy outcomes was affirmed. The results of the quantitative research were accompanied by the results of a parallel qualitative research. The thematic content analysis of the qualitative data, which were collected via a series of participative observations and interviews, increased the internal validity of the research and strengthened the possible relationship between the instruction, being described above, and the quantitative research results. Generally speaking, the quantitative and qualitative results of the research underline the possible effectiveness of the communicative and, especially, of the genre based grammar approach, regarding the linguistic adequacy of primary school students and their literacy. So, the most important conclusion of this PhD thesis is that, within the frame of a genre based grammar education, students can acquire the knowledge and skills to both write effectively and to deal knowingly with grammatical as well as textual forms. As genre based grammar education is related to a new way of grammar teaching, which aims to the social construction of language, it becomes equal to literacy based education. This new way allows the movement from the “how” of grammar teaching to the “how” of genres' teaching, during the primary years of schooling. The final proposal of the thesis refers to the “how” of genres' teaching in Grade 3, which is supposed to be a crucial point regarding language education and, obviously, regarding literacy itself.

Los jóvenes de Alicante viven en una sociedad donde coexisten dos lenguas, el castellano y el valenciano. La lengua valenciana es utilizada por jóvenes de Alicante tanto en ámbitos formales como informales. Los jóvenes hablantes de valenciano sienten un lazo identificativo con la lengua que se rige por las actitudes de éstos. La actitud lingüística conlleva a una identificación lingüística del hablante, la cual es una construcción social que se rige por las normas que rodean al hablante. La identificación bilingüe podría, por lo tanto, ser influenciada e influenciar a su vez a la competencia lingüística. El propósito del presente estudio es investigar en qué situaciones y contextos es usado el valenciano; con el objetivo de estudiar la relación entre el grado de bilingüismo, la actitud lingüística y el nivel de complejidad, corrección y fluidez (CAF) en la expresión escrita del valenciano. Partimos de la hipótesis de que el valenciano tiene, para la generación joven de Alicante, una función social y que la actitud hacia la lengua es positiva, lo que a su vez se refleja en la destreza escrita. Para comprobar nuestra hipótesis nos hemos basado en un cuestionario de hábitos sociales, un test de nivel de valenciano y dos redacciones, una escrita en castellano y una en valenciano. Con la participación de 59 jóvenes alicantinos, llegamos a la conclusión de que el valenciano es usado tanto en ámbitos formales como informales y que la actitud hacia la lengua es positiva, y que consideran importante dominar y preservar el valenciano. Además, los participantes han presentado un nivel alto de destreza en el valenciano escrito, mostrando complejidad y fluidez en la expresión escrita. Por otro lado, la corrección es más elevada en el castellano. También se ha podido ver que la identificación de los participantes está relativamente correlacionada con la competencia lingüística. / The young people of Alicante live in society where two languages, Castilian and Valencian, coexist. The Valencian language is used by young people from Alicante in both formal and informal settings. Young speakers of Valencian feel a linguistic identification with the language, which is governed by social norms. Bilingual identification could, therefore, be influenced by and influence linguistic competence. The purpose of this study is to examine in which situations and contexts Valencian is used with the aim of evaluating the relationship between the degree of bilingualism, language attitude and level complexity, accuracy and fluency (CAF) in the written Valencian of young people of Alicante. We hypothesized that Valencian has, for the young generation of Alicante, a social function and the attitude towards the language is positive, which in turn is reflected in writing skills. To test our hypothesis we have used a questionnaire of social habits, a diagnostic test in Valencian and two essays, written in Castilian and Valencian. With the participation of 59 young Alicantinos, we conclude that Valencian is used in both formal and informal settings, that the attitude towards the language is positive and that it is considered important to master and preserve the Valencian language. In addition, the participants have proficiency in the Valencian written language, showing complexity and fluency in written expression. On the other hand, their accuracy is higher in Castilian. It has also been seen that the linguistic identification of the participants is relatively correlated to linguistic competence.

‘A critical review of language errors in the writing of distance education students’ examines linguistic competence and investigates the language errors made by a heterogeneous group of 100 entry-level distance education university students with a view to improving their academic writing skills. The research follows a process of error identification and statistical analysis, and reviews intervention strategies based on the findings. Despite the continuing debates on the value of error correction, especially in relation to ‘World Englishes’, language accuracy remains a key factor in determining academic success. This is of particular concern in the South African multi-lingual context and in the light of the under-performance of South African students as evidenced in international comparative studies. The implications of the bimodal pattern of distribution in the review findings are discussed and pedagogically appropriate approaches and intervention strategies are suggested. / English Studies / M.A. (TESOL (Teaching English to speakers of other languages))