Articles continue to be one of the most puzzling aspects of English grammar. This thesis investigates article use variation in two groups of English varieties: Inner Circle and Outer Circle. The first group, comprising British English, American English, Australian English and New Zealand English, represents English varieties in their traditional contexts. The second group, consisting of Singapore English, Indian English, Philippine English and Kenyan English, represents varieties which are deeply entrenched in their communities due to colonial roots. The study is premised on the naturalness of corpus data. Three corpus-based analyses were conducted to investigate articles and their frequency, collocation and usage types. The frequency analysis revealed that articles are idiosyncratically used by the varieties with no clear divide between the two groups. Text types, on the other hand, emerged as a more powerful determinant of the observed frequencies. It was found that fewer articles were used in spoken language. In the collocational analysis, the varieties were found to favour different complementation patterns for two-word and multiple-world clusters. The Inner Circle varieties, however, shared more complementation patterns among them, demonstrating greater stability in terms of variation. Finally the analysis of usage types discovered ‘marked’ or untypical patterns of use in the Outer Circle group’s structural and situational definites. A number of untypical usages of first-mention/quantitative 'a/an' were also found in this group. In the same analysis, a case study of ‘house’ uncovered a few marked uses of ??, which signalled the null form but not the zero article. Although the collective findings in this study indicate that article use in both groups of varieties has more similarities than differences, the latter leave more impression on observers. These differences can be attributed to such diverse factors as text types, socio-cultural content of collocates, specificity, recategorisation of countness, indiscriminate rule application and ungrammaticality. Theoretically, however, the variation can be captured by the application of Chesterman’s three composite meanings of definiteness – locatability, inclusiveness and extensivity – and their permutations. As an instance of nativisation, article use in the Outer Circle is limited in its diffusion. The observed innovations rarely creep into more formal registers.

Cette étude relève du domaine de la didactique des langues et de l'usage des TIC. Elle s'appuie sur une recherche-action portant sur un projet collectif de création d'une ressource numérique par des stagiaires professeurs des écoles de l'IUFM de Paris et des étudiants du King's College de Londres. Nous avons émis l'hypothèse que cette tâche est susceptible d'opérer comme levier d'apprentissage de l'anglais pour les stagiaires, et nous avons posé les questions de recherche suivantes.<br />- Comment le scénario de formation proposé interroge-t-il le schéma d'acquisition d'une L2 ?<br />- Un tel scénario contribue-t-il au développement de la production orale des stagiaires, compétence dont ils ont le plus besoin dans l'exercice de leur profession ?<br />Afin de cerner l'impact de la formation sur les processus d'acquisition linguistique et plus particulièrement sur le développement de l'output oral des apprenants, nous analysons les différentes tâches inhérentes au projet à la lumière des théories d'acquisition et de l'approche socioculturelle, ainsi que le contexte interactionnel instauré par les participants. Nous prenons également en compte le fait que les échanges avec les partenaires anglophones se font à distance, au moyen du courriel, et examinons les effets qu'un input authentique exclusivement écrit engendre sur la production orale des stagiaires, le risque encouru étant d'accentuer le phénomène de nativisation.<br />Mesurer la portée et les limites du dispositif en regard de l'objectif fixé permet de déboucher sur de nouvelles propositions de formation, conformément au cycle de la recherche-action.

Notre étude relève du domaine de la didactique des langues et plus particulièrement sur la focalisation sur l’utilisation des présentations PowerPoint pour les réalisations des tâches. Ces dernières jouent un rôle important dans le déclenchement de processus d’apprentissage. Lorsque les apprenants réalisent des tâches sur support PowerPoint,interagissent ensemble pour construire du sens, ils sont dotés d’un statut d’acteurs sociaux.Cette étude se donne alors comme objectif d’améliorer la pratique des apprenants en classe et de résoudre certaines de leurs difficultés didactiques et pédagogiques à travers un dispositif hybride. Celui-ci est fondé sur des macro-tâches réalisées majoritairement en semi distance et mise en place majoritairement en présentiel à travers des exposés techniques. Ces derniers ont été conçus pour encourager le développement de performances langagières attendues en production orale des apprenants.Elle se base sur une recherche-action qui a été menée en Ouganda pour des apprenants anglophones qui apprennent le français comme langue étrangère à Makerere UniversityBusiness School (MUBS) à Kampala. Cette étude a porté sur un exposé technique oral parles apprenants du Français sur Objectif Spécifique (FOS) à (MUBS) en Ouganda.Cette recherche-action vise à améliorer l’expression orale en FOS des apprenants de l’université MUBS. Nous avons donc menée des multiples expérimentations qui nous ont permises dans un premier temps de questionner l’impact d’un exposé oral des tâches réelles collectivement élaborée et présentée sur support Power Point sur la production orale de ces apprenants. Ces tâches avaient comme objectif d’encourager les apprenants de transformer un texte en titre, sous-titres et paragraphes, puis de présenter leur travail sous forme de diaporama avec PowerPoint. Le but était d’éviter la lecture linéaire de l’exposé,afin d’accroître leur confiance en eux-mêmes et dans l’interaction en FOS. Grâce à la recherche-action, nous avons pu définir précisément en quoi et pourquoi les choix de nos tâches, de nos activités devraient avoir un effet positif sur notre public cible. / The initial objective of this study, which lies within the field of language teaching andespecially on the role of information and Communication Technology (ICT), is to investigate the potential of ICT in triggering oral language development in the learners of French for Specific purposes (FSP) at Makerere University Business School. This studyadopts action research that focuses on the role of technologies deployed in oral technical presentations of macro-tasks such as the use of MS Office. The aim is to enhance Frenchlearners’ skills in French for Specific purposes. The social constructivist or cultural hypotheses posit that social interaction plays an important role in L2 acquisition (French in this case) in FSP classes through a hybrid environment based on macro-tasks performed indistance and presented in class.The current action research project involved identifying and putting into place a learningsystem for learners of FSP who experienced several difficulties with their spoken French inthe learning process. It further posits that learners construct the new language through socially mediated interaction. Subsequently, this involved establishing whether the use ofPowerPoint presentation (PPP) would engage learners of FSP in collective actions both inthe classroom and in the real world activities. In addition, there was an attempt to establishif relevant web quest materials were likely to enhance oral language acquisition and prompt learners to take responsibility for their own learning.

This thesis analyzes the phonological and morphological nativisation of English loans in the Tonga language. The contact situation between English and Tonga, in Zimbabwe, facilitates transference of lexical items between the two languages. From having been one of the most widely used languages of the world, English has developed into the most influential donor of words to other languages such as Tonga. The infiltration of English words into the Tonga lexical inventory led to the adoption and subsequent nativisation of English words by the native Tonga speakers. The main deposit of English words into Tonga is the direct interaction between English and Tonga speakers. However, it is sometimes via other languages like Shona, Ndebele, Venda and Shangani. In the 21st century, English’s contribution to the vocabulary of Tonga became more widely spread, now covering a large proportion of the Tonga language’s lexical inventory. The fact that English is the medium of instruction, in Zimbabwe, language of technology, education, media, new administration, health, music, new religion and economic transactions means that it is regarded as the high variety language with coercive loaning powers. Words from English are then adopted and nativised in the Tonga language, since Tonga asserts itself an independent language that can handle loans on its own. The main focus of this study therefore, is to try and account for the phonological and morphological behavior and changes that take place in English words that enter into Tonga. Analyzing phonological processes that are employed during nativisation of loan words entails analyzing how Tonga speakers handle aspects of English language such as diphthongs, triphthongs, cluster consonants, CVC syllable structure and sounds in repairing unacceptable sequences in Tonga. The research also accounts for the handling of morphological differences between the two languages. This entails looking at how competence and ordered-rule framework are harmonized by Tonga speakers in repairing conflicting features at morphological level. Since the two languages have different morphological patterns, the research analyzes the repairing strategies to handle singular and plural noun prefixes, tenses and particles, which are morphological components of words. The researcher appreciates that the native Tonga speakers have robust intuitions on the proper way to nativise words. / African Languages / D.Litt. et Phil. (African Languages)

This thesis analyzes the phonological and morphological nativisation of English loans in the Tonga language. The contact situation between English and Tonga, in Zimbabwe, facilitates transference of lexical items between the two languages. From having been one of the most widely used languages of the world, English has developed into the most influential donor of words to other languages such as Tonga. The infiltration of English words into the Tonga lexical inventory led to the adoption and subsequent nativisation of English words by the native Tonga speakers. The main deposit of English words into Tonga is the direct interaction between English and Tonga speakers. However, it is sometimes via other languages like Shona, Ndebele, Venda and Shangani. In the 21st century, English’s contribution to the vocabulary of Tonga became more widely spread, now covering a large proportion of the Tonga language’s lexical inventory. The fact that English is the medium of instruction, in Zimbabwe, language of technology, education, media, new administration, health, music, new religion and economic transactions means that it is regarded as the high variety language with coercive loaning powers. Words from English are then adopted and nativised in the Tonga language, since Tonga asserts itself an independent language that can handle loans on its own. The main focus of this study therefore, is to try and account for the phonological and morphological behavior and changes that take place in English words that enter into Tonga. Analyzing phonological processes that are employed during nativisation of loan words entails analyzing how Tonga speakers handle aspects of English language such as diphthongs, triphthongs, cluster consonants, CVC syllable structure and sounds in repairing unacceptable sequences in Tonga. The research also accounts for the handling of morphological differences between the two languages. This entails looking at how competence and ordered-rule framework are harmonized by Tonga speakers in repairing conflicting features at morphological level. Since the two languages have different morphological patterns, the research analyzes the repairing strategies to handle singular and plural noun prefixes, tenses and particles, which are morphological components of words. The researcher appreciates that the native Tonga speakers have robust intuitions on the proper way to nativise words. / African Languages / D.Litt. et Phil. (African Languages)