English is the second language of almost 89,9% of all South Africans (Bull, 1990:3). A concern about the low levels of proficiency in English in South African primary schools prompted this study. The majority of pupils (both in schools that use English as medium of instruction and schools that offer English as a subject only), as well as many teachers of English are not proficient in English. The aim of this study is to design a task-based syllabus for English in South African primary schools that will address this problem through its potential to provide extensive support for the teaching and learning of English. The syllabus is the single most influential document all English Second Language (ESL) teachers receive, as it directs and guides teaching. In order to propose a syllabus for ESL in primary schools, the following aspects were investigated in this study: the teaching and learning of ESL in the primary school approaches to syllabus design, task-based approaches to syllabus design, current language syllabuses and the present situation in South African primary schools. Task-based approaches to language learning are increasingly proposed as a viable option for syllabus design. There is a firm theoretical rationale for task-based approaches to language learning. Task-based models proposed by Prabhu, Breen and Candlin and Long and Crookes have been influential in the design of task-based syllabuses for language learning. A survey was undertaken to ascertain to what extent language syllabuses from various countries can be regarded as task-based, and what information they specify. Seven representative task-based syllabuses were studied, namely Graded Levels of Achievement for Foreign Language Learning (GLAFLL), the Alabama Course of Study - English Language Arts and the Alaska Model Curriculum Guide: Language Arts (both for English as L1), and the Dutch Syllabus for ESL, the Botswana Syllabus for ESL, the Australian Language Levels (ALL) Project and the Target Oriented curriculum (TOC) of Hong Kong. The Target Oriented Curriculum (TOC) of Hong Kong is regarded as the most suitable model on which to base a task-based model for language teaching and learning in South African primary schools. Not only does it provide firm support for classroom practice in a teacher-friendly and concise manner, but it also provides examples of how the various components of the syllabus can be integrated in the planning of a scheme of work. A core task-based syllabus for English in South African primary schools is proposed. It consists of a situation analysis, the aims and objectives of the course, its content, teaching-learning opportunities and guidelines for assessment. / Proefskrif (PhD (Vakdidaktiek))--PU vir CHO, 1997

English is the second language of almost 89,9% of all South Africans (Bull, 1990:3). A concern about the low levels of proficiency in English in South African primary schools prompted this study. The majority of pupils (both in schools that use English as medium of instruction and schools that offer English as a subject only), as well as many teachers of English are not proficient in English. The aim of this study is to design a task-based syllabus for English in South African primary schools that will address this problem through its potential to provide extensive support for the teaching and learning of English. The syllabus is the single most influential document all English Second Language (ESL) teachers receive, as it directs and guides teaching. In order to propose a syllabus for ESL in primary schools, the following aspects were investigated in this study: the teaching and learning of ESL in the primary school approaches to syllabus design, task-based approaches to syllabus design, current language syllabuses and the present situation in South African primary schools. Task-based approaches to language learning are increasingly proposed as a viable option for syllabus design. There is a firm theoretical rationale for task-based approaches to language learning. Task-based models proposed by Prabhu, Breen and Candlin and Long and Crookes have been influential in the design of task-based syllabuses for language learning. A survey was undertaken to ascertain to what extent language syllabuses from various countries can be regarded as task-based, and what information they specify. Seven representative task-based syllabuses were studied, namely Graded Levels of Achievement for Foreign Language Learning (GLAFLL), the Alabama Course of Study - English Language Arts and the Alaska Model Curriculum Guide: Language Arts (both for English as L1), and the Dutch Syllabus for ESL, the Botswana Syllabus for ESL, the Australian Language Levels (ALL) Project and the Target Oriented curriculum (TOC) of Hong Kong. The Target Oriented Curriculum (TOC) of Hong Kong is regarded as the most suitable model on which to base a task-based model for language teaching and learning in South African primary schools. Not only does it provide firm support for classroom practice in a teacher-friendly and concise manner, but it also provides examples of how the various components of the syllabus can be integrated in the planning of a scheme of work. A core task-based syllabus for English in South African primary schools is proposed. It consists of a situation analysis, the aims and objectives of the course, its content, teaching-learning opportunities and guidelines for assessment. / Proefskrif (PhD (Vakdidaktiek))--PU vir CHO, 1997

Thesis (M.Ed.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2010.

This qualitative study was guided by the framework of Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC). In Canada, although researchers recognize that learning French through a cultural context will promote understanding and acceptance of cultural diversity, as well as the learning of the target language, there is little evidence to support the ways in which this methodology may influence the learning of elementary Core French students. The purpose of this study was to investigate the ways in which a group of Grade 4 students, from an English community, perceived their peers from a French community, and to describe any changes in their attitudes toward learning French as a Second Language in response to the opportunity to learn through a cultural context. This action research study used a questionnaire, an observation checklist of task-related behaviour, and semi-structured group photo-interviews to explore 15 Grade 4 students’ perceptions and attitudes in response to a new research-based teaching approach. As the cultural exchange unfolded, I sought evidence of the three savoirs (that according to the ICC model, primary students have the ability to develop), in order to promote interculturality: savoir être (related to students’ attitudes towards the other students), savoirs (related to knowledge of the other culture), and savoir apprendre/faire (related to behaviour toward the other culture). Results indicated that students showed evidence of two savoirs: savoir être and savoirs. Savoir apprendre/faire, however, was not shown. In addition to the two savoirs, the exchange promoted the learning of French in the classroom, and supported the development of students’ confidence in communicating in French. The findings of this study contribute to the teaching of Elementary Core French in Ontario, by providing valuable insights into the possible ways that learning French through an intercultural experience holds potential in developing students’ communication abilities as well as awareness and acceptance of otherness, which is the bedrock upon one can develop effective communicators in the target language. / Thesis (Master, Education) -- Queen's University, 2014-04-23 18:35:56.721

Thesis (M.Ed.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2010.

Se distinguant des expressions émotionnelles qui sont innées et déclenchées par un contrôle involontaire du locuteur au sein d'une communication face-à-face, les affects sociaux émergent plutôt de manière volontaire et intentionnelle, et sont largement véhiculés par la prosodie audio-visuelle. Ils mettent en circulation, entre les interactants, des informations sur la dynamique du dialogue, la situation d'énonciation et leur relation sociale. Ces spécificités culturelles et linguistiques de la prosodie socio-affective dans la communication orale constituent une difficulté, même un risque de malentendu, pour les apprenants en langue étrangère (LE) et en langue seconde (L2). La présente thèse se consacre à des études intra- et interculturelles sur la perception de la prosodie de 19 affects sociaux en chinois mandarin et en français, ainsi que sur leurs représentations cognitives. Son but applicatif vise l'apprentissage de la prosodie des affects sociaux en chinois mandarin et en français LE ou L2. Le premier travail de la thèse consiste en la construction d'un large corpus audio-visuel des affects sociaux chinois. 152 énoncés variés dans leur longueur, leur morpho-syntaxe et leur représentation tonale sont respectivement produits dans les 19 affects sociaux. Sur la base de ce corpus, sont examinées l'identification et les confusions perceptives de ces affects sociaux chinois par des natifs, des français et des vietnamiens (comme groupe de référence), ainsi que l'effet du ton lexical sur l'identification auditive des sujets non natifs. Les résultats montrent que la majorité des affects sociaux chinois est perçue de manière similaire par les sujets natifs et les sujets non natifs, cependant certains décalages perceptifs sont également observés. Les tons chinois engendrent des problèmes perceptifs des affects sociaux autant pour les vietnamiens (d'une langue tonale) que pour les français (d'une langue non tonale). En parallèle, une analyse acoustique permet de mettre en évidence les caractéristiques principales de la prosodie socio-affective en chinois et d'étayer les résultats perceptifs. Ensuite, une étude sur les distances conceptuelles d'une part, et psycho-acoustiques d'autre part, entre les affects sociaux est menée auprès de sujets chinois et de sujets français. Les résultats montrent que la plupart des connaissances sur les affects sociaux sont partagées par les sujets, quels que soient leur langue maternelle, leur genre ou la manière de présenter les affects sociaux (concepts ou entrées acoustiques). Enfin, le dernier chapitre de la thèse est consacré à une étude contrastive sur la perception multimodale des affects sociaux en chinois et en français LE ou L2. Il est constaté que la reconnaissance des affects sociaux est étroitement liée aux expressions elles-mêmes et à la modalité de présentation de ces expressions. Le degré d'acquisition de la langue cible du sujet (débutant ou intermédiaire) n'a pas d'impact significatif à la reconnaissance, dans le cadre restreint des niveaux étudiés. / In human face-to-face interaction, social affects should be distinguished from emotional expressions, triggered by innate and involuntary controls of the speaker, by their nature of voluntary controls expressed within the audiovisual prosody and by their important role in the realization of speech acts. They also put into circulation between the interlocutors the social context and social relationship information. The prosody is a main vector of social affects and its cross-language variability is a challenge for language description as well as for foreign language teaching. Thus, cultural and linguistic specificities of the socio-affective prosody in oral communication could be a difficulty, even a risk of misunderstanding, for foreign language and second language learners. This thesis is dedicated to intra- and intercultural studies on perception of the prosody of 19 social affects in Mandarin Chinese and in French, on their cognitive representations, as well as on Chinese and French socio-affective prosody learning for foreign and second language learners. The first task of this thesis concerns the construction of a large audio-visual corpus of Chinese social affects. 152 sentences with the variation of length, tone location and syntactic structures of utterances, have been incorporated with 19 social affects. This corpus is served to examine the identification and perceptual confusion of these Chinese social affects by native and non-native listeners, as well as the tonal effect on non-native subjects' identification. Experimental results reveal that the majority of social affects are similarly perceived by native and non-native subjects, otherwise, some differences are also observed. Lexical tones lead to certain perceptual problems also for Vietnamese listeners (of a tonal language) and for French listeners (of a non-tonal language). In parallel, an acoustic analysis investigates the production side of prosodic socio-affects in Mandarin Chinese, and allows highlighting the more prominent patterns of acoustical variations as well as supporting the perceptual resultants obtained on the same expressions. Then, a study on conceptual and psycho-acoustic distances between social affects is carried out with Chinese and French subjects. The main results indicate that all subjects share to a very large extent the knowledge about these 19 social affects, regardless of their mother language, gender or how to present social affects (concept or acoustic realization). Finally, the last chapter of thesis is dedicated to the differences in the perception of 11 Chinese social affects expressed in different modalities (audio only, video only and audio-visual) for French learners and native subjects, as well as in the perception of the same French socio-affects for Chinese learners and native subjects. According to the results, the identification of affective expressions depends more on their affective values and on their presentation modality. Subject's learning level (beginner or intermediate) does not have a significant effect on their identification.

This research investigated the possible correlation between English proficiency and academic success in Internal Auditing 1 of learners registered at the Vaal Triangle Technikon. Acquisition of a Second language was investigated with reference to Additive and Subtractive bilingualism, Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills, and Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency. Factors that influence the acquisition of a L2 were also discussed. Factors that influence learning through a Second language, problems experienced by learners learning through a Second language and the coping mechanisms they use were investigated. The specific language situation in South African education was explained starting with a short historical background of English in South African schools. General problems experienced at schools, language problems experienced at schools, the language proficiency of teachers and how they cope with the language problems were discussed. Language problems experienced by the learners and its effect on higher education were also investigated. A questionnaire was used to gather information regarding respondents' school history, First language, experiences with English as a subject at school, experiences of English as language of instruction, and their views on Internal Auditing 1 as a subject. Respondents' English proficiency was determined through three instruments, namely Grade 12 English Second language results, an English proficiency test and an English writing performance test. There is a discrepancy between tile respondents' own perception of their English proficiency and their English proficiency as reflected by their Grade 12 English Second language results, the proficiency test and the writing performance test. While respondents felt that their English proficiency is average or above average, the tests indicated that their English proficiency is very low. Despite the respondents' very tow levels of English proficiency they reported that they did not find the English used in different situations relating to Internal Auditing 1 difficult and no significant correlation could be determined between their English proficiency levels and their academic success in Internal Auditing 1. / Psychology of Education / M. Ed. (Psychology of Education)

Baserat på den kritiska diskursanalysens (CDA) teoretiska ramverk, som det har utvecklats av Norman Fairclough, undersöker denna uppsats hur tre svenska läroböcker för vuxna andraspråksinlärare behandlar temat hälsa. Analysen görs på tre nivåer: text, diskursiv praktik och social praktik. På textnivå visar undersökningen av teman, propositioner, modalitet, talhandlingar och röster hur läroböckerna framställer hälsa som individuellt ansvar, personlig prestation och plikt. På den diskursiva praktikens nivå fokuserar uppsatsen på interdiskursiviteten och belyser hur texterna bygger på ett spektrum av olika genrer och diskurser. Slutligen framhåller analysen hur texterna är en del av en bredare samtida social praktik, enligt vilken hälsa betraktas som ett individuellt projekt, relaterat till begreppet risksamhälle, och fungerar som en brännpunkt för värden som är framträdande i västerländsk kultur. / Based on the theoretical framework of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), as developed by Norman Fairclough, this paper examines how three Swedish textbooks for adult second-language learners deal with the topic of health. The analysis is done on three levels: text, discursive practice and social practice. On text level, the examination of topics, propositions, modality, speech functions and voices demonstrates how the textbooks consider health to be a matter of individual responsibility, personal accomplishment and duty. On the level of discursive practice, the paper focuses on interdiscursivity and sheds light upon how the texts draw upon a range of different genres and discourses. Eventually, the analysis points out how the texts are a part of a wider, contemporary social practice, according to which health is regarded as an individual project, linked to the concept of risk society, and functions as a focal point of prominent values of western culture.

Computer assisted language learning (CALL) comprises a wide range of information technologies that aim to broaden the context of teaching by getting advantages of IT. For example, a few efforts have been put on including a combination of voice and its visual representation for language learning, and some studies are reporting positive outcomes. However, more research is needed in order to assess the impact caused by specific visualization styles such as: highlighting syllables and/or wave of sound. In order to explore this issue, we focused at measuring the potential impact that two distinct visualization styles and its combination can have on teaching children the pronunciation of English as a second language. We built a prototype which was designed to assist students while learning pronunciation of syllables. This system was employing two different real-time interactive visualization styles. One of these visualization styles utilizes audio capturing and processing, using a recent technology development: Web Audio API.We evaluated the effect of our prototype with an experiment with children aged from 9 to 11years old. We followed an experimental approach with a control group and three experimental groups. We tested our hypothesis that states that the use of a combined visualization style can have greater impact at learning pronunciation in comparison with traditional learning approach.Initial descriptive analyses were suggesting promising results for the group that used the combined visualization prototype. However, additional statistical analyses were carried out in order to measure the effect of prototype as accurately as possible within the constraints of our study. Further analyses provided evidence that our combined visualizations prototype has positively affected the learning of pronunciation. Nonetheless, the difference was not big comparing to the system that employed only wave of sound visualization. Ability to perceive visual information differs among individuals. Therefore, further research with different sample division is needed to determine whether is the combination of visualizations that does the effect, or is the wave in itself. Slitting groups based on this characteristic and perform the testing will be considered for the future research.Eventually, we can be confident to continue exploring further the possibility of integrating our proposed combination of two visualization styles in teaching practices of second language learning, due to positive outcomes that our current research outlined. In addition, from a technological perspective, our work is at the forefront of exploring the use of tools such as Web Audio API for CALL.

This essay focuses on what impact developmental dyslexia has on assessment and grading in the second language teaching of English in the Swedish educational system. The data presented in this essay are based on six semi-structured interviews with English language teachers of lower and upper secondary schools from the south-eastern parts of Sweden. The interviews were conducted in Swedish, and the collected data have been translated into English. The inquiries of the interviews focused on the teachers' awareness of dyslexia and its impact on learning and teaching, as well as how they worked with and their considerations made when assessing and grading dyslexic pupils. The interviews specifically enquired what particular challenges arose in the assessment and grading process, what provided aid, and what could be done to provide further relief during this process. The results show that the assessment and grading of dyslexic pupils is similar to the general practice. The teachers do, however, accommodate the dyslexic pupils' needs in the teaching and carefully consider their difficulties when assessing and grading. The teachers use, for example, spelling programs and such technical aids to help them, to some extent, disregard dyslexic difficulties while assessing. However, results show how the teachers are not able to transfer their awareness of dyslexia and its implications into the assessment and grading situation, suggesting that the teachers' own ability to assess dyslexic pupils is somewhat inadequate.