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This study was an examination of the effects of explicit form-focused instruction on the English development of Japanese university students during a seven-week intervention. Speaking proficiency development is a continuous challenge for most EFL learners who have limited exposure to the target language outside the classroom. Within the communicative language teaching paradigm, task-based language learning (TBLT) has been considered an effective approach for developing students’ speaking proficiency. However, while TBLT has been increasingly implemented in English language classrooms, investigations in which explicit form-focused instruction has been integrated into task based speaking tasks are limited. This longitudinal classroom-based study had five purposes. The first purpose was to examine the development of speaking proficiency in terms of syntactic complexity, syntactic accuracy, and oral fluency. The second purpose was to examine the development of speaking proficiency by comparing learners who received form-focused instruction with those who did not receive form-focused instruction by examining differences in their syntactic complexity, syntactic accuracy, and oral fluency development. The third purpose was to quantitatively and qualitatively examine the week-to-week trajectory of changes in speaking proficiency development. The fourth purpose was to examine learner affective variables. The final purpose was to examine the participants’ perceptions concerning the development of speaking proficiency based on their self-assessments. The participants were 104 first-year students enrolled in a Japanese university. All of the participants narrated a different four-picture cartoon in English once a week for nine weeks. The participants were divided into one comparison group and two intervention groups: form-focused instruction (FFI) and form-focused instruction and peer feedback (FFI + PF). The form-focused instruction intervention included ten minutes of grammar instruction focused on three past tense forms: simple past, past continuous, and past perfect, as well as ten minutes of peer feedback. Between the pretest and posttest, the FFI and FFI + PF participants received seven weeks of instruction before their weekly cartoon narration. Participants in the comparison group did not receive any weekly interventions. The pretest and posttest narration data of all participants were transcribed and analyzed using six CAF measurements: mean length of T-unit, clause/T-unit ratio, percentage of error-free T-units, percentage of accurate past tense usage, speech rate, and self-repair. Moreover, the pretest and posttest narrations recorded by all of the participants were analytically rated by three raters. From the sample of 104 participants, nine participants (three representatives from each group) were chosen for a week-to-week trajectory analysis in which their six CAF performances were qualitatively and quantitatively analyzed. All of the participants completed two questionnaires after taking the pretest and posttest. I developed both questionnaires based on previous literature related to second language speaking proficiency development. The English Speaking Learner Affect Questionnaire was used to examine differences in participants’ classroom English speaking anxiety, English speaking self-efficacy, and desire to speak English. The Self-Assessment of Speaking Task Questionnaire was used to examine changes in the participants’ self-assessment of their own performances in terms of syntactic complexity, syntactic accuracy, and oral fluency. The results indicated that form-focused instruction was effective at improving the participants’ global syntactic accuracy and their accurate use of the simple past tense. However, form-focused instruction did not lead to improvements in syntactic complexity or oral fluency. However, explicit form-focused instruction did not lead to detrimental effects on syntactic complexity or oral fluency; thus, form-focused instruction did not appear to stimulate trade-off effects between syntactic complexity, syntactic accuracy, and oral fluency. The analytical ratings provided by the raters indicated that form-focused instruction did not lead to significant improvements in terms of syntactic complexity, syntactic accuracy, or oral fluency. The results also indicated that the form-focused instruction intervention was effective at quickly improving syntactic accuracy because participants who received both form-focused instruction and peer feedback improved more quickly in the simple past compared to the participants who only received form-focused instruction. However, the participants who improved syntactic accuracy quickly might have experienced trade-offs with oral fluency ability, as improvements in speed fluency were not noted until their syntactic accuracy reached a ceiling effect where their global accuracy and accurate use of simple past tense stopped to improve. The results indicated that form-focused instruction did not influence classroom English speaking anxiety, as there was no significant difference seen between participants who received form-focused instruction and participants who did not. However, an excessive amount of form-focused instruction might have negative impacts on speaking anxiety because the participants who received both form-focused instruction and peer feedback showed an increase in their classroom English speaking anxiety. On the other hand, form-focused instruction had no impact on English speaking self-efficacy and it had positive effects on the desire to speak English because the participants who received both form-focused instruction and peer feedback exhibited a significant increase in their desire to speak English compared to the participants who did not receive form-focused instruction and the participants who received only form-focused instruction. Finally, based on the learners’ self-assessment, form-focused instruction had no effects on speaking proficiency development as there was no difference in self-assessed syntactic complexity, syntactic accuracy, and oral fluency between the participants in the three groups. Participants who received form-focused instruction interventions did not assess themselves to having higher syntactic accuracy despite their improvements on the CAF measures. / Teaching & Learning

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of metalinguistic knowledge and language learning aptitude on second language (L2) procedural knowledge. Three lines of inquiry were undertaken: (a) confirming the factorial structure of metalinguistic knowledge and language learning aptitude; (b) testing the relative effects of metalinguistic knowledge and language learning aptitude on L2 procedural knowledge; and (c) assessing the relative contributions of receptive and productive metalinguistic knowledge and components of language learning aptitude to L2 procedural knowledge. Two-hundred-forty-nine Japanese university students participated. One receptive and two productive tests of metalinguistic knowledge related to metalinguistic terminology and English grammatical rules were administered. Learners' language learning aptitude was measured using the Lunic Language Marathon, which consisted of four scales: number learning, sound-symbol association, vocabulary learning, and language analytical ability. Participants' L2 procedural knowledge was assessed through performance on a timed writing task. The writing samples were scored for overall quality, L2 complexity, accuracy, and fluency. The scores from each test were subjected to Rasch analyses to investigate the construct validity and unidimensionality of the instruments. The results of the Rasch analyses indicated that the test items fit the Rasch model, supporting the construct validity of the instruments. The unidimensionality of each instrument was established through Rasch principal component analyses. Interval-level Rasch measures were used for the subsequent analyses. The results of exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses indicated that metalinguistic knowledge and language learning aptitude were distinct constructs. A two-factor model showed good model fit and explained the relationship between the two constructs. Structural equation modeling revealed that metalinguistic knowledge significantly predicted L2 procedural knowledge, complexity, accuracy, and fluency. Language learning aptitude, however, was not a statistically significant predictor of the L2 procedural knowledge variables. The results of a path model analysis indicated that productive metalinguistic knowledge was the strongest predictor of L2 procedural knowledge, language analytical ability predicted receptive metalinguistic knowledge, and number learning was negatively associated with L2 procedural knowledge. The findings point to the facilitative role of metalinguistic knowledge in L2 learning and the viability of L2 declarative knowledge becoming proceduralized through practice. / Applied Linguistics

Denna studie handlar om hur kunskaps- och färdighetsrelaterade nivåskillnader påverkar engelskundervisning på mellanstadiet. Studien undersöker vilka utmaningar kunskaps- och färdighetsrelaterade nivåskillnader skapar i undervisningen samt vilka metoder som kan användas för att skapa en flexibel och anpassningsbar undervisning i engelska. Studiens empiri består av kvalitativa intervjuer där sju lärare från två kommuner intervjuats. För att få en djupgående bild av lärarnas egna uppfattningar, erfarenheter och reflektioner genomfördes semistrukturerade intervjuer där lärarnas egna tankar fick ta plats.  Studien visar att kunskaps- och färdighetsrelaterade nivåskillnader har en stor påverkan på engelskundervisning på mellanstadiet. Den visar också att dessa skillnader skapar stora utmaningar hos undervisande lärare och att det, trots en förståelse för de behov som nivåskillnaderna skapar, råder brist på effektiva och hållbara undervisningsstrategier för att möta alla de olika nivåerna. / This study is about the way in which disparate knowledge and proficiency levels affect the teaching of English in middle schools. The study examines what challenges the discrepancy in in knowledge and proficiency levels create, and what methods that could be used to create a flexible and adaptable teaching of English. The study is based on seven qualitative interviews with seven teachers from two municipalities. In order to get a profound view of the teachers´personal perceptions, experiences and reflections, semistructured interviews were used to give the respondents ample opportunity to reflect upon their own thoughts.  The study shows that the disparate knowledge and proficiency levels have a great impact on the teaching of English in middle schools. It also shows that they create great challenges for teachers of English and that despite a widespread understanding of the needs that the different levels create, there is a lack of effective and sustainable teaching strategies to meet all of the different levels.

En ökad efterfrågan på talare av mandarin kinesiska (hädanefterkinesiska) i väst har lett till ett ökat behov av högkvalitetsundervisning i kinesiska. I den här undersökningen studerade 24 svenska modersmålstalare utan tidigare kinesisk språkerfarenhet 60 svenska ord i kombination med deras kinesiska motsvarighet. Hälften av paren lärdes genom upprepade studier (där ordparen presenteras samtidigt) och hälften av paren genom aktiv minneshämtning (där ordparen presenteras separat). Varaktigheten av upprepade studieroch aktiva minneshämtningen likställdes. Alla de kinesiska tecknen presenterades tillsammans med en fonologisk representation. Efter att ha lärtde 60 ordparen, utfördesett flervalstest för att bedöma läranderesultatet. För att testa för den fonologiska representationens betydelse vid inlärning så presenterades hälften av ordparen från varje betingelse utan deras fonologiska representation under testningen. Logistikblandade modellerfann att prestationvar signifikant bättre förupprepade studier jämfört med aktiv minneshämtningoch att tillgång till en fonologisk representation under testninginte gav signifikant bättre testprestanda. / An increased demand for speakers of Mandarin Chinese (henceforth Chinese) in the West has lead to an increased need for high quality teaching of Chinese. In the present study, 24 native Swedish speakers with no prior Chinese language experience studied 60 Swedish words paired with their Chinese equivalents. Half of the pairs were learned by repeated studying (with the word pairs presented simultaneously) and half of the pairs by active retrieval (with the word pairs presented separately). The durations of repeated study and active memory retrieval were equated. All the Chinese characters were presented along with a phonological representation. After learning the 60 word pairs, a multiple-choice test was conducted to assess learning outcome. To test for for the importance of the phonological representation, half of the word pairs learnt in each condition had the representation removed during testing. Logistic mixed models found that performance was significantly better for repeated studying compared to active memory retrieval and that having access to a phonological representation during testing did not yield significantly better test performance. Keywords: Mandarin Chinese, second language learning, the testing effect

This study indicates that communication skills and communication apprehension of English First Additional Language (EFAL) learners are important aspects in teaching and learning, as well as for academic performance. A learner‘s major hurdle to overcome in communication in a second language classroom is a fear of failure. Communication skills and communication apprehension are challenges teachers have to face in language classrooms. Communication barriers that may lead to fear, distress and poor performance should be identified at an early stage. Therefore, it is critical for teachers to know about the communication process, communication skills, and communication apprehension to design positive solutions and teaching strategies to assist learners to overcome fear of communication, especially in the area of second and additional languages. A sample of 779 male and female learners in the secondary phase in Kannaland District, Western Cape participated in the study. For this non-experimental quantitative study, data were gathered using two questionnaires, Communication Skills Scale, and the Personal Report Communication Apprehension questionnaire. To explore the relationship between communication skills, communication apprehension and academic achievement, the first and second term EFAL marks of grades 7-9 learners were used. The data were presented as descriptive statistics, factor analysis, reliability analysis, correlations and comparisons. Results distinguished no differences between males, females, or grades. Findings were discussed with regard to communication skills and the academic achievement, as well as communication apprehension and academic achievement of the learners. Results indicate that there is no significant relationship between communication skills and academic achievement. Nevertheless, distinct relationships between communication skills and communication apprehension (group work, meetings and public speaking) were established and discussed. Communication apprehension (group work, conversations and in the classroom) and academic achievement presented clear relationships that were reported in detail. The factors identified may have a negative impact on learners‘ academic achievement in EFAL. Insight generated by the research in Kannaland District, Western Cape will help to develop an understanding of the situations that affect the degree of communication apprehension of secondary phase EFAL learners. It will allow for a better understanding of the influence of communication skills and could assist teachers to understand EFAL learners‘ fear, distress or ability to communicate. / MEd (Curriculum Development), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015