Diese Arbeit behandelt das Thema, wie schwedische Deutschlehrkräfte über die Lehrpläne des Faches Deutsch denken, ob sich die Einstellung der Lehrkräfte und die der Schüler unterscheidet, wenn es um das Fach Deutsch geht. Das Resultat der Untersuchung zeigt, dass die Lehrkräfte mit den Lehrplänen zufrieden sind. Sie meinen, dass sie alle Kompetenzen, die einen modernen Fremdsprachenunterricht ausmachen, abdecken. Die Lehrpläne legen den Schwerpunkt auf Kommunikation, eine Kompetenz, die auch von den Lehrkräften hoch bewertet wird. Zur Unterstützung des Lernens sei es wichtig, dass Unterrichtsthemen im Mittelpunkt stehen, die für die Schüler relevant sind, und sie sollen mit vielfältigen Methoden vermittelt werden. Eine große Rolle für das Lernen spielt auch die Beziehung zwischen Lehrkraft und Schüler und das Arbeitsklima im Klassenzimmer.    Das Fach moderne Sprachen ist die dritte Sprache, die die Schüler in Schweden lernen, und dazu gehören Spanisch, Deutsch, Französisch und Chinesisch (Skolverket, 2018a). Das Interesse für moderne Sprachen und Deutsch ist im Allgemeinen niedrig. Viele haben die Einstellung, dass Englisch ausreichend ist. Im Schuljahr 2016/2017 haben 75 % der Neuntklässler eine moderne Sprache gelernt, während ein Viertel stattdessen weiter Schwedisch und Englisch gelernt haben (SCB, 2018). Gymnasiasten sagen, dass das Fach Deutsch nicht als Priorität gesehen wird. Wenige Schüler lernen Deutsch weiter, wenn es nicht obligatorisch ist.

Des milliers d'œuvres musicales sont décrites dans des catalogues des institutions culturelles, dont le rôle est de stocker toutes les créations musicales à travers le catalogage et de les diffuser auprès du grand public. Cette thèse s’inscrit dans le cadre du projet ANR DOREMUS -DOnnées en REutilisation pour la Musique en fonction des USages- qui vise à explorer les métadonnées des catalogues de trois grandes institutions culturelles : Bibliothèque Nationale de France (BNF), Philharmonie de Paris et Radio France afin qu'elles puissent communiquer entre elles et être mieux utilisées par les différents publics. Dans cette thèse, nous nous intéressons aux liens dits d’identité, exprimant une équivalence entre deux ressources différentes décrivant la même entité du monde réel. Notre objectif principal est de proposer une approche de liage générique, traitant certains challenges, avec comme cas concret d’utilisation les données de DOREMUS.Dans cette thèse, nous nous focalisons sur trois principaux challenges : (1) réduire la configuration manuelle de l’outil de liage, (2) faire face à différents types d’hétérogénéité entre les descriptions, et (3) Supprimer l’ambiguïté entre les ressources très similaires dans leur descriptions mais qui ne sont pas équivalentes. Certaines approches de liage demandent souvent l’intervention de l’utilisateur pour configurer certains paramètres. Ceci peut s’avérer être une tâche coûteuse pour l’utilisateur qui peut ne pas être expert du domaine. Par conséquent, une des questions de recherche que nous nous posons est comment réduire autant que possible l’intervention humaine dans le processus de liage des données. De plus, les descriptions des ressources peuvent présenter diverses hétérogénéités qu’un outil doit savoir gérer. Par ailleurs, les descriptions peuvent être exprimées dans différentes langues naturelles, avec des vocabulaires différents ou encore avec des valeurs différentes. La comparaison peut alors s’avérer très difficile en raison des variations selon trois dimensions : basées sur les valeurs, ontologiques et logiques. Dans cette thèse, nous analysons les aspects d’hétérogénéité les plus récurrents en identifiant un ensemble de techniques qui peuvent leur être appliquées. Un autre défi est la distinction entre des descriptions de ressources fortement similaires mais non équivalentes. En leur présence, la plupart des outils existants se voient diminuer leur efficacité en terme de qualité, en générant beaucoup de faux positifs. Dans cette optique, certaines approches ont été proposées pour identifier un ensemble de propriétés discriminatives appelées des clefs. De telles approches découvrent un très grand nombre de clés. La question qui se pose est de savoir si toutes les clés permettent de découvrir les mêmes paires d’instances équivalentes, ou si certaines sont plus significatives que d'autres. Aucune approche ne fournit de stratégie pour classer les clefs générées en fonction de leur efficacité à découvrir les bons liens. Afin d’assurer des alignements de qualité, nous avons proposé dans ce travail une nouvelle approche de liage de données visant à relever les défis décrits ci-dessus.Un outil de liage automatique de données hétérogènes, nommé Legato, qui répond aux challenges évoqués précédemment a été développé. Il est basé sur la notion de profile d’instance représentant chaque ressource comme un document textuel de littéraux gérant une variété d’hétérogénéités de données sans l’intervention de l’utilisateur. Legato implémente également une étape de filtrage de propriétés dites problématiques permettant de nettoyer les données du bruit susceptible de rendre la tâche de comparaison difficile. Pour pallier au problème de distinction entre les ressources similaires dans leur description, Legato implémente un algorithme basé sur la sélection et le ranking des clefs afin d’améliorer considérablement la précision au niveau des liens générés. / This thesis is part of the ANR DOREMUS project. We are interested in the catalogs of three cultural institutions: BNF (Bibliothèque Nationale de France), Philharmonie de Paris and Radio France, containing detailed descriptions about music works. These institutions have adopted the Semantic Web technologies with the aim of making these data accessible to all and linked.The links creation becomes particularly difficult considering the high heterogeneity between the descriptions of the same entity. In this thesis, our main objective is to propose a generic data linking approach, dealing with certain challenges, for a concrete application on DOREMUS data. We focus on three major challenges: (1) reducing the tool configuration effort, (2) coping with different kinds of data heterogeneities across datasets and (3) dealing with datasets containing blocks of highly similar instances. Some of the existing linking approaches often require the user intervention during the linking process to configure some parameters. This may be a costly task for theuser who may not be an expert in the domain. Therefore, one of the researchquestions that arises is how to reduce human intervention as much as possible inthe process of data linking. Moreover, the data can show various heterogeneitiesthat a linking tool has to deal with. The descriptions can be expressed in differentnatural languages, with different vocabularies or with different values. The comparison can be complicated due to the variations according to three dimensions: value-based, ontological and logical. Another challenge is the distinction between highly similar but not equivalent resource descriptions. In their presence, most of the existing tools are reduced in efficiency generating false positive matches. In this perspective, some approaches have been proposed to identify a set of discriminative properties called keys. Very often, such approaches discover a very large number of keys. The question that arises is whether all keys can discover the same pairs of equivalent instances, or ifsome are more meaningful than others. No approach provides a strategy to classify the keys generated according to their effectiveness to discover the correct links.We developed Legato — a generic tool for automatic heterogeneous data linking.It is based on instance profiling to represent each resource as a textual documentof literals dealing with a variety of data heterogeneities. It implementsa filtering step of so-called problematic properties allowing to clean the data ofthe noise likely to make the comparison task difficult. To address the problem ofsimilar but distinct resources, Legato implements a key ranking algorithm calledRANKey.

A língua de sinais ganha um novo foco no cenário nacional e a tendência da prática fonoaudiológica toma rumos que provavelmente levarão à maior difusão do bilingüismo. O domínio desta língua torna-se de grande importância para o fonoaudiólogo, e pode contribuir para diagnósticos mais precisos. Este trabalho tem como objetivo analisar a comunicação de crianças surdas em interação com um examinador bilíngüe no uso das modalidades comunicativas e no perfil pragmático. O estudo foi desenvolvido com 12 sujeitos com idade de 7 a 10 anos, com surdez profunda, sem comprometimentos associados e filhos de pais ouvintes. Aplicou-se o Protocolo de Avaliação das Habilidades Comunicativas e de Linguagem de Crianças Surdas - Reduzido em dois momentos: em Português e em língua de sinais. Este protocolo foi modificado para este estudo e é complementar ao protocolo original. O objetivo da redução do protocolo original foi tornar sua aplicação mais concisa e rápida. Com relação às modalidades comunicativas usadas nas duas interações, observouse que a ocorrência de modalidade viso-espacial foi maior em ambas as aplicações, mostrando a preferência desta modalidade pela criança surda. O uso de língua ocorreu em maior número na aplicação em língua de sinais, indicando que a modalidade de língua usada pelo interlocutor influencia a complexidade no uso da linguagem pela criança. Isto sugere a importância do conhecimento da língua de sinais pelo examinador para maior precisão no diagnóstico de linguagem. Com relação ao perfil pragmático o grupo exibiu maior diversidade de habilidades comunicativas na aplicação em PB, entretanto as habilidades comunicativas que predominaram nesta aplicação são as menos adaptadas ao ambiente ou de aquisição precoce. As habilidades comunicativas de aquisição tardia ocorreram predominantemente na aplicação em LS. Os resultados apresentaram diferenças estatisticamente significantes com relação à complexidade do código usado para expressar as habilidades, com maior pontuação para aplicação em LS. Os dados sugerem a importância do conhecimento de língua de sinais pelo fonoaudiólogo porque as respostas que podem ser obtidas em um exame tendem a ser mais complexas lingüisticamente / Brazilian Sign Language gains a new focus in the national scenery. Speech Pathology professional praxis points to new possibilities which may spread bilingual practices, by the equal status usage of Sign Language and Portuguese. The sign language mastery is important for this professional since it helps the development of more precise diagnosis. The aim of this study was to analyze deaf childrens communication modalities and pragmatic profile while interacting with a bilingual examiner. Participated in this study twelve subjects, aged seven to ten years old, with profound hearing loss, without other associated problems and born to hearing parents. Each child was assessed twice by the Protocolo de Avaliação das Habilidades Comunicativas e de Crianças Surdas - Reduzido: once in Brazilian Portuguese and once in Brazilian Sign Language. This protocol was modified to become its administration reduced and quicker. Results showed that Visual-Space-Modality occurrence was higher in both administrations, indicating deaf childrens preferential language modality. The higher use of linguistic code (language) occurred during the protocol sign language administration, suggesting that the language modality used by the examiner influences the child´s linguisitc complexity. The majority of the children was in the nonlinguistic stage when assessed in Brazilian Portuguese but in the multiple combinations stage when assessed in Brazilian Sign Language. The groups pragmatic profile showed more diverse communicative skills in Brazilian Portuguese administration, though less adaptative, or communicative skills from the initial language and communication acquisition period. Communicative skills of later acquisition occurred mainly in Sign Langage administration. Results showed statistical significance in the complexity of the code used to express communicative skills, with higher scores obtained in the Sign Language administration. The data suggests the importance of the mastery of sign language by examiners for precise diagnosis, because deaf children responses to language assessment tend to be linguistically more complexes when the examiner uses this language modality

This dissertation explores the perspectives of culturally and linguistically diverse learners and English learners on school conditions that enable them to share their heritage languages and cultures, as well as the ways that these learners propose that their heritage languages and cultures could be more recognized in an English-only middle school setting. This study focused specifically on the role that culturally and linguistically diverse learners and English learners perceived that they played in the process of their own social empowerment, a role that could be achieved through the development of their voices by becoming critically involved in creating spaces for their heritage languages and cultures in English-only settings. In this study, student voice is the means for the culturally and linguistically diverse and English learners' voices to emerge: the voices that are frequently oppressed because of the lack of power. This framework provides guidance to integrate the excluded learners' voices in a school milieu that habitually muffles these voices. Listening to the bicultural and bilingual voices is important but not sufficient to challenge the power structure of U.S. schools. In this study, culturally and linguistically diverse learners and English learners conceptualized ways that their heritage languages and cultures could be (more) recognized in their school settings. The voices of the students are important; they should be respected and valued. Hearing the students in this study reminds us and validates the assertion that students from diverse languages and cultures are not monolith. They have different and unique experiences and this study gave voice to some of those. Leaders from state level, district level, and school level could open the doors for students to share their experiences in the schools; in the case of this study, to learn from these students what a school milieu that authentically recognizes their cultures and languages is. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2015. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

O presente trabalho, de fonética acústica, visa a investigar dois aspectos referentes ao desenvolvimento multilíngue, à luz da Teoria dos Sistemas Dinâmicos, Adaptativos Complexos (BECKNER et al., 2009; DE BOT et al., 2013, SILVA, 2014): i. a (multi) direcionalidade da transferência vocálica em falantes plurilíngues de espanhol como língua materna (L1), inglês como segunda língua (L2) e português como segunda língua (L2) ou terceira língua (L3) e ii. a premissa de que uma mudança em qualquer parte do sistema pode gerar alteração nas outras partes do(s) sistema(s) linguístico(s). Com vistas a investigar o primeiro aspecto, foi conduzido um estudo transversal, em que foram realizados dois tipos de análises. A análise do tipo inter-grupo contou com cinco grupos formados a fim de realizarmos as comparações entre os valores formânticos e de duração das produções vocálicas de cada grupo. Para o cumprimento de tal objetivo, o primeiro grupo foi formado por 5 monolíngues do português brasileiro, residentes em Porto Alegre, RS, para que servisse de grupo controle, a fim de prover os valores formânticos e padrões de duração referentes às vogais do sistema-alvo, o português. O segundo grupo contou com 5 falantes monolíngues de espanhol (variedade rio-platense), residentes na Argentina, e também serviu como controle para a coleta de valores de formantes e de duração para a comparação com as produções dos falantes multilíngues nativos de espanhol que possuem a L2 (inglês ou português) ou a L2 e a L3 (inglês e português) A comparação deste grupo de participantes monolíngues com os participantes dos grupos descritos a seguir possibilitou a verificação de alterações nos valores formânticos e de duração da L1 (espanhol rio-platense), com base no argumento de que os participantes que dispõem de outros sistemas linguísticos apresentam diferenças formânticas e temporais das vogais dos monolíngues argentinos. O terceiro grupo, por sua vez, foi composto por 5 falantes bilíngues de espanhol (variedade rio-platense) como língua materna e português como L2. O quarto grupo foi composto por 5 falantes de espanhol (variedade rio-platense) como L1, inglês como L2 e português como L3, o que possibilitou a verificação do papel do inglês na aquisição do português por falantes de espanhol, quando as vogais do português (L2) desses aprendizes foram comparadas com as dos aprendizes do grupo anterior, que possuem o português, mas não o inglês. Ambos os grupos apresentaram um período de residência no Brasil de, no mínimo, 3 anos.O quinto grupo foi composto por 5 falantes de espanhol (variedade rio-platense) como L1 e aprendizes de inglês como L2, residentes na Argentina. Em relação ao nível de proficiência desses aprendizes em inglês, foi realizado o teste de nivelamento de Oxford (Oxford Online Placement Test, PURPURA, 2007), para que os aprendizes deste grupo e os aprendizes trilíngues (conforme descrição acima) apresentassem o mesmo grau de proficiência em língua inglesa A comparação das vogais do inglês (L2) dos participantes do quinto grupo, que não possuem o português (L3), com as vogais em inglês (L2) dos participantes do quarto grupo anterior, que possuem o português (L3), possibilitou a análise quanto ao papel da L3 sobre a L2. Além desta análise inter-grupo, foi conduzida, também, uma descrição do tipo intra-grupo, que consistiu na descrição dos valores formânticos e de duração de todos os sistemas vocálicos de cada grupo de participantes, tomados individualmente, para que fossem verificadas as possíveis formações de categorias no novo sistema. Para os propósitos supracitados, cada grupo foi solicitado a ler uma lista de palavras nas línguas de seu conhecimento. Os resultados aqui encontrados, em consistência com a Teoria dos Sistemas Dinâmicos, a Teoria da Complexidade e a Teoria do Caos, indicam que a fala dos participantes, não somente nos sistemas de L2 e L3, mas também no próprio sistema de L1, sofre múltiplas alterações devido à interação com agentes internos e externos. Em adição, as formas vocálicas encontradas neste experimento se compõem como formas híbridas, que mesclam características de todos os sistemas linguísticos dos participantes. Em razão da gama de múltiplos fatores envolvidos neste processo de desenvolvimento do sistema linguístico, as análises individuais tomadas longitudinalmente parecem conter informações mais ricas do que as análises transversais. Assim, um estudo longitudinal é capaz de apontar mais do que o simples “retrato” ou estágio em que o aprendiz se encontra no momento da coleta Nesse sentido, conduziu-se o segundo estudo, de cunho longitudinal, que contou com instrução formal de base comunicativa e articulatória sobre os sons vocálicos presentes na L3, mas ausentes na L1. Através da instrução formal, visou-se a causar uma modificação acelerada no sistema fonético-fonológico de L3 do aprendiz, para se verificar se tal modificação ocasionaria efeitos sobre a L1 e a L2. O estudo contou com um aprendiz trilíngue falante do espanhol (variedade mexicana) como L1, inglês como L2 e português como L3. A instrução deu-se ao longo de 4 meses, com uma aula de 90 minutos por semana. As coletas tiveram o mesmo instrumento do estudo transversal, isto é, as listas de palavras nas três línguas referidas, e ocorreram anteriormente ao período de instrução, durante (a cada 4 semanas) e ao término da instrução formal, de modo a totalizar 5 coletas com o participante. Os achados deste estudo longitudinal evidenciaram que as alterações em um sistema como o português (L3), aceleradas pela instrução fornecida, causaram alterações na produção vocálica dos demais sistemas, devido à interconexão dos sistemas do falante multilíngue. As alterações ocorreram tanto em termos de valores formânticos quanto em termos de duração absoluta e relativa Considerando uma perspectiva dinâmica e complexa, esta pesquisa fundamenta-se na pressuposição de que é necessário rejeitar a noção unidirecional de transferência linguística. A partir de tais resultados, podemos afirmar que uma L2 deve ser considerada como um sistema híbrido, que carrega características tanto da L1 quanto da L3. A L3, sob essa perspectiva, carrega aspectos das L1 e da L2. Além disso, a própria L1, ainda que de forma mais moderada, sofre influência dos outros sistemas que se estabelecem neste espaço fonológico comum. É rejeitada, portanto, a noção de direção singular quanto à transferência das L1 e L2 na L3, de modo que se possa assumir, assim, uma transferência multidirecional. / This study, within acoustic phonetics, aims to address two aspects concerning multilingual development, under the Dynamic Complex-Adaptive System Theory (BECKNER et al., 2009; DE BOT et al., 2013, SILVA, 2014): (i) the multi-directionality of vowel transfer in the speech production of L1 Spanish speakers of English (L2) and Portuguese (L2/L3), and (ii) the assumption that some changes in a given language system may account for the co-ocurrence of changes in the other systems. Given the first aspect, a cross-sectional experiment was conducted, in which speech production data were collected from 5 groups in order to compare formant and vowel duration values among groups. This experiment tested the hypothesis that formant and vowel duration values would differ among groups due to the existence of additional systems. In order to do so, the first group had 5 Porto-Alegre monolingual Brazilian Portuguese speakers, in order to provide native formant and durational values of Southern Brazilian Portuguese vowels. The second group had 5 monolingual Riverplate Spanish speakers (from Argentina) and also served as a control group, in order to provide the formant and durational values of Riverplate Spanish vowels The vowel productions of these participants were compared to those produced by the participants who spoke English or Portuguese as L2/L3, as described as follows. This allowed us to test if bilingual and trilingual native speakers of Spanish (L1) would present altered vowel formant and duration values from those found in the productions by monolingual speakers of Spanish. The third group had 5 bilingual speakers of Riverplate Spanish (L1) and Portuguese (L2), and the fourth group consisted of 5 trilingual speakers of Riverplate Spanish (L1), English (L2), and Portuguese (L3). The comparison between the vowel systems of these two groups allowed for the investigation of the influence of English in the development of Portuguese by L1 Spanish speakers, considering that one group lacks the English system. Both groups of participants had a similar length of residence in Brazil. Finally, the fifth group consisted of 5 bilingual speakers of L1 Spanish and English (L2) who live in Argentina. The comparison between the English vowels produced by this group (whose participants do not speak Portuguese) and the fourth group (which has developed the Portuguese language) made it possible to explore the role of the L3 on the L2, in terms of formant values and duration With regard to proficiency in English, all participants in the fourth and fifth groups were required to take the Oxford Online Placement Test (PURPURA, 2007), which indicated that the participants presented an upper-intermediate or advanced level of proficiency in the target language. In addition, an intra-group analysis was conducted, in which the duration and frequency values of each one of the vowel systems produced by each group of participants were compared and analyzed, in order to test category formation in each new language system. For each purpose mentioned above, participants were asked to read a list of words in the languages spoken by them. Results show that the speech produced by the multilingual participants seems to be affected by the interaction with and among the other language systems, besides the fact that their L1 does not seem to reflect the monolingual L1 System. Besides, their target language shows productions that reflect hybrid forms, which merge characteristics from all systems involved. Our data confirm the complexity of the multilingual development process and corroborate the premises of a view of Language as a Complex, Adaptive System Following the tenets of Complex Adaptive System Theory, the second assumption investigated in this research follows the current theoretical framework that views that any change in the developmental process can modify all the other parts of the system. Due to a great number of factors involved in this process, individual analyses across time seem to reveal richer information about the language development process than the cross-sectional analyses do. For this reason, a longitudinal experiment seems to offer more than just a picture of the development process, as it rather presents a longer part of the process. Based on this premise, a Spanish L1 (Mexican variety) speaker of English (L2) who had been learning Portuguese (L3) in Porto Alegre in 2015 was taught a 4 month-course of a Portuguese phonetic syllabus which focused on the open vowels of the target systems [ε] and [ͻ] and their counterparts [e] and [o]. We aimed to verify if the development of Portuguese open vowels [ε] and [ͻ], which are not produced in their L1, would play a role in the development of the open vowels [ͻ, ε, æ, ɑ] in the L2 (English), as well as in [e] and [o], the mid vowels in their L1 (Spanish). Our investigation considered not only these vowels, but the development of the entire vowel system in each language Instruction consisted of a weekly 90-minute class and took place along 4 months. Recordings were conducted in the same way of the cross-sectional study, in which there were lists of words to be read in the three languages. The first recording was conducted before the period of instruction, the next three recordings were conducted after every four classes, and the fifth recording was conducted at the end of the experiment, totaling 5 recordings. The findings of the longitudinal study provided evidence to the premise that alterations in one system such as Portuguese (L3), which has been accelerated by formal instruction, may cause alterations in the production of the vowels of the other languages, due to the interrelation among the language systems of this multilingual speaker. Departing from a view of language as a Complex, Adaptive System, the findings in this research reject the unidirectional account of language transfer. Results suggest that the L2 system can be seen as a hybrid system, which carries characteristics from both the L1 and the L3. The L3, under this perspective, also carries aspects from the L1 and L2 systems. Besides, the L1, even being the most dominant language, seems to suffer some moderate influence from the L2 and the L3, as the three systems coexist in the same phonological setting. This considered, a view of multi-directional transfer is adopted.

Le contexte multilingue andorran, tant du fait de la mixité d’origines de sa population mixte que de la pluralité des systèmes éducatifs qui y sont implantés, se prête fortement à la recherche en sociolinguistique et en didactique des langues et du plurilinguisme. Cette thèse a pour but de tenter d’apporter une suite de réponses à des questionnements concernant les compétences linguistiques en langue française des apprenants en fin d’école primaire des systèmes français et andorran, écoles où le français n’est pas seulement langue enseignée mais également langue d’enseignement-apprentissage pluridisciplinaire. Les incidences de l’environnement social multilingue sur les apprenants et les influences de systèmes éducatifs qui ont une approche didactique des langues variable, sont à la source de cette enquête et des analyses qui en résultent. / The andorran multilingual context, both because of the mixed origins of its mixed population and because of the plurality of educational systems that are located there, is an ideal area for research in sociolinguistics and didactics of languages and multilingualism. This thesis has the purpose of trying to answer a series of questions referring to the french language competences of students at the end of primary school in the French and Andorran systems, schools where French is not only a language taught but is also a language of multidisciplinary teaching-learning. The impact of the multilingual social environment on learners and the influences of educational systems that have a variable didactic approach to languages are the source of this research and of the analysis derived from them.

This thesis explores the issues of language and power in the Qing Empire’s (1644-1911) northeastern borderlands within the larger context of political reforms in late Qing China between 1890 and 1911. To the present, much research on the history of language in late Qing China continues to fall within the framework of national language. Drawing on Manchu and Chinese sources, this thesis argues that the Qing emperors devised a multilingual regime to recreate the imperial polyglot reality and to rule a purposefully diverse but unifying empire. From the seventeenth century, the Qing emperors maintained the special Manchu-Mongol relations by adopting Manchu and Mongolian as the two official languages, restricting the influence of Chinese, and promoting Tibetan in a religious context in the Jirim League. From the 1890s, the Jirim League witnessed a language contest between Manchu, Mongol, Chinese, Japanese and Russian powers which strove to legitimize and maintain their control over the Jirim Mongols. Under the influence of European and Japanese language ideologies, the Qing Empire fostered the learning of Chinese in order to recreate the Jirim Mongols as modern nationals in an integrated China under a constitutional monarchy. Meanwhile, the Qing Empire preserved Manchu and Mongolian, which demonstrated the Manchu characteristic of the constitutional monarchy in a wave of Chinese nationalism. However, the revised language regime undermined the Jirim Mongols’ power and challenged their special position in the traditional Manchu-Mongol relations, which caused disunity and disorder in the borderlands. This thesis challenges the notion of language reform as a linear progress towards Chinese national monolingualism. It demonstrates the political and ritual role of Manchu and Mongolian beyond their communicative and documentary functions, and unfolds the power of language pluralism in Chinese nationalist discourse from a non-Chinese and peripheral perspective. By investigating how ethnic, national, and imperialist powers interacted with one another, this thesis allows us to understand the integration of Manchuria into modern China, East Asia, and the world from a different perspective.

La ricerca nasce con l’obiettivo di approfondire, da un punto di vista teorico e operativo, il tema della scoperta della diversità linguistica attraverso l’approccio intercomprensivo. In ambito glottodidattico il concetto di intercomprensione tra lingue affini (d’ora in avanti, IC) si trova attualmente al centro degli approcci plurali che propongono una didattica orientata allo sviluppo della competenza plurilingue e interculturale. Lo studio si articola in quattro capitoli tra loro interrelati. Nel primo capitolo, si presenta una ricostruzione storica dei progetti chiave che, in senso al Consiglio d’Europa, hanno gettato le fondamenta dell’attuale formulazione della politica linguistico educativa comunitaria. Il secondo capitolo offre una sintesi dei documenti e degli strumenti più recenti prodotti dall’Unità delle Politiche Linguistiche del Consiglio d’Europa per la promozione del plurilinguismo. Il terzo capitolo fornisce un’introduzione al concetto di intercomprensione da più punti di vista: come oggetto dell’apprendimento, come strategia di apprendimento, come approccio didattico e come strumento di politica linguistica. Nel quarto e ultimo capitolo si dà voce alla natura, agli obiettivi, alla metodologia e ai materiali utilizzati nell’ambito della sperimentazione in IC, condotta nell’anno scolastico 2014/15 con gli alunni di due classi quinte di una scuola primaria di Varese. / The aim of the research is to investigate, from both a theoretical and a practical point of view, the discovery of linguistic diversity through intercomprehension. In the field of ​​language teaching the concept of intercomprehension between related languages is currently at the heart of pluralistic approaches which promote plurilingual education. The study is divided into four chapters. The first chapter offers an historical reconstruction of the key projects which the Council of Europe developed for the foundation of its educational language policy. The second chapter provides a summary of the most recent documents and instruments produced by the the Council of Europe's Language Policy Unit for the promotion of multilingualism. The third chapter gives an introduction to the concept of intercomprehension from several points of view: as a learning object, as a learning strategy, as a teaching approach and as a language policy instrument. The fourth and final chapter introduces to the aims, the methodology and the materials used in the research conducted during the school year 2014/15 with Year 5 pupils of a primary school in Varese.

This study conceptualises Chinese language-major undergraduates' motivation to learn a third language (L3) from a self perspective. Two overarching aims were adopted to guide the research: how learners' L3 motivation was formulated and reformulated over the course of one year of learning an L3 and whether classroom intervention could help learners to construct their L3 motivation. This research adopted a longitudinal case study design and was situated in a state university in China. Students who had chosen to learn an L3 as their major and English majors who were required to learn an L3 participated in the research. To achieve the two principal research aims, the data collection process was divided into two phases. The goal of the first phase was to explore the development of my participants' L3 motivation without any intervention. Qualitative research methods were employed during this phase and data were gathered from open questionnaires, interviews, class observation and written journals. In the second phase, an intervention was carried out to explore how to construct my participants' ideal L3 selves. A quasi-experimental design was employed and mixed methods were adopted. Analysis was primarily guided by the L2 Motivational Self System and was carried out at both at class level and individual level. At a class level, findings suggest that both L3 majors' and English majors' L3 motivation was mainly constituted on the basis of their ideal L3 selves, ought-to L3 selves and L3 learning experiences, which were constantly constructed and reconstructed over the course of learning. Notably, learners' motivational trajectories did not display a homogenous pattern at the group level. In total, six different motivational patterns were identified, three from English majors and three from L3 majors. It was also interesting to identify that a few learners developed a type of multilingually oriented motivation during their L3 learning. Data collected at the second phase of fieldwork revealed that the intervention was effective in helping English majors to construct their ideal L3 selves but less useful in the case of L3 majors. At the individual level, six cases were analysed in depth to investigate how the trajectories identified at the group level developed temporally and contextually. The analysis shows that the construction of these learners' L3 motivation involved a complex interplay between their future L3 selves and current L3 learning experience. It was through this process that learners explored the relationship between the L3 and their self-identification, and attempted to develop their personal meaning of learning an L3. On the basis of the empirical evidence, this thesis argues that the construction of learners' L3 motivation hinges on exploration of the position of the L3 in their self-identification, and that class intervention might help learners to realise the importance of learning an L3 by helping them to develop their ideal L3 selves, at least in the case of non-L3-major students. Moreover, this study suggests that it is crucial for L3 learners in China to recognise the value of being multilingual, which plays an essential role in constructing their L3 selves and sustaining their L3 motivation.

abstract: In a growlingly digital world, scholars must understand the changes in textuality and communication associated with Web 2.0 technologies to incorporate potential pedagogical benefits to language curricula. For example, with the affordance of these technologies, language learners (LL) are increasingly exposed to language contact zones found both on and offline. A practice that could potentially support the communicative practices of LL within these multilingual spaces is translanguaging, or the use of strategies employed by LL when engaging with diverse codes by utilizing the resources of their semiotic repertoire as well as their language(s). Previous research has focused principally on contexts of bilingual education and identity formation vis-à-vis translanguaging. Therefore, the present study is the first to examine the actual translanguaging practices of second language (n=5) and heritage language learners (n=5) of Spanish in a digital language contact zone: Facebook affinity spaces, or common interest spaces. The dynamic data gathered from screen capture recordings of the participants’ interactions and think-aloud protocols in the affinity spaces, stimulated recall interviews, and written reflections were analyzed using content analysis and critical discourse analysis. This analysis revealed key findings in the data that focused on translanguaging practices, negotiation strategies, and performative competence - or the procedural knowledge which focuses on how learners communicate rather than what they communicate. First, the participants displayed a preference toward the separation of languages in written output, adhering to the ideals of linguistic purism, while simultaneously engaging in translanguaging practices via non-linguistic semiotic resources, such as the use of emojis, in their communication. Second, the participants’ self-reported proficiency levels for their writing abilities in Spanish correlated with their use of outside digital resources as a mediation tool. The findings show that, theoretically, the conceptualization of communicative competence must be expanded in order to incorporate the languaging practices of interlocutors in digital contexts. Pedagogically, educators need to support the development of LLs’ digital literacies, or communicative practices that are facilitated by technology, and address the bias toward linguistic purism to help students reap the cognitive benefits offered by translanguaging practices. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Spanish 2018