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The purpose of this thesis is to examine the teaching of English as a foreign language in Zaire in general and Eastern Kasai in particular. For it is evident from personal experience and evidence from examination results that this learning is in general not satisfactory, and particularly poor as far as learners' mastery of oral fluency is concerned. The aim of the thesis is therefore to analyze the learning situation in order to clarify the factors which might be causing this unsatisfactory situation. We take two approaches to this analysis: a theoretical review of the situation and an empirical study of teaching and learning. The thesis thus falls into four parts. In Part One, we describe the learners’ historical and sociolinguistic background and the Zairean educational situation in general and the problems of teaching English in particular. In Part Two, we review the situation in Zaire -and in Eastern Kasai in particular- by an analysis of the literature on language learning and the insights it can give us into the Zairean problem. This review deals first with issues in foreign language teaching. It also focusses however on literature on bilingualism since Zairean learners are always bilingual in, at least, one local language and the French they learn on entry to the education system. Intuitively, we might assume that bilingual learners will be at an advantage in learning a foreign language, and Zairean learners should therefore be in a good position to learn English. Our review of the relevant literature examines the objective evidence for this intuitive assumption and suggests that, other things being equal, bilingual individuals should be good learners of foreign languages. We conclude therefore that other factors in the situation may be responsible for the unsatisfactory standards. Part Three is an analysis of some of those factors, based on an empirical investigation. It is at this point that the thesis focusses more precisely on Eastern Kasai where fieldwork was carried out. Pupils and students, teachers, and inspectors and administrators were given questionnaires and interviews, and lessons were observed in four secondary schools. Many factors were found to be causing problems in EFL learning. Part Four deals with the most important of these factors and their implications, our recommendations for future practice and further research, and the conclusion., The following factors were identified as having a detrimental effect on this learning: learners' lack of motivation to go on/ perseverance, which is caused by the overemphasis teaching methods put on accuracy. This in turn means that every thing done or said in lessons is teacher-centred and teacher-dominated, and this contributes to a reduction in the already scarce opportunities and frequencies of use of English by the learners. We therefore recommend that, to increase learners' motivation to learn (to speak) English, teaching methods and teachers should allow them much more freedom of speech, thus stressing (oral) fluency. This will result in these learners opening up, and in methods becoming more learner-oriented, with the ultimate aim of having them learner-centred. In our conclusion, we give a summary of the thesis, namely its purpose, the way we followed to reach it, the results we got, and our recommendations for future practice and research.

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Pakistan's curriculum change mechanism is based on a bureaucratic model in which teachers are 'humble servants' of the system. The study is concerned with understanding the teachers' and students' perspective on innovations developed externally to the schools in the realms of teaching and learning English as an Additional Compulsory Language. Further, it explores a possible alternative curriculum development model, grounded in the learning context, which may improve the existing situation. Schwab's (1973) 'deliberative approach' and Kelly's (1955) 'theory of personal construct psychology' provided the theoretical underpinning to a naturalistic approach to the inquiry. A modified form of Parlett and Dearden's (1977) illuminative evaluation method allowed for an emergent research design model which included both the survey and case studies as complementary methods. The former provided information for generating 'working hypotheses' while the latter allowed for in-depth probing in the natural setting. The case studies indicated that teachers were faced with a conflict of demands between the desired goals of innovation and the current examination system. They were not familiar with the innovation and they lacked a support mechanism to guide their classroom actions. Consequently, they fell back on various survival strategies. The main sources of the practical problems were identified: governing factors (teachers' personal theories), frame factors (instructional milieu) and social factors (learning milieu). Mismatch between teachers' teaching styles and students' preferred learning strategies also produced problems. This detail accords with the general sources of the failure of curriculum innovation attempts in both developed and developing countries as identified in the literature. The proposed alternative model contains five main dimensions as a basis for formulating coherent curriculum change policy: curriculum negotiations; curriculum materials; professional development; reflective teaching; supportive mechanisms. The feasibility of this model is discussed in the light of the research findings and relevant literature. Some conclusions are drawn with the implications for further research described.

The current thesis explores the role played by metalinguistic awareness in language acquisition/learning and seeks to develop a theoretical framework in which the integration of 'knowledge about language' (KAL) in the school curriculum can be clarified in terms of curriculum planning and pedagogic practice. Chapter 1 unravels the confusion surrounding terms such as metalinguistic 'awareness' and/or 'consciousness' by relating them to the discussion on metacognition currently in vogue in cognitive psychology. A taxonomy of theoretical models is considered. Chapter 2 relates differences in the definition of metalinguistic awareness and its function in language acquisition/learning to the theoretical models outlined in Chapter 1. A socio-cultural viewpoint, it is argued, which views metalinguistic awareness arising out of the progressive decontextualisation of functional variants, is the most useful in interpreting existing data. Chapter 3 seeks to build on Chapter 2 by developing a more elaborated model of the role of metalinguistic awareness in the emergence of 'parasitic' language skills within a socio-cultural paradigm. The model examines the interdependence of skill and knowledge in the child's expanding linguistic repertoire and suggests a taxonomy of 'meta' processes facilitating such an expansion. Chapter 4 addresses the variability of metalinguistic skills among children in terms of their semiotic experience and, largely through a reconsideration of Bernstein's theory of codes, explores the implications of such variability for educational development. After a critical review of past practice, Chapter 5 proposes guidelines for the integration of KAL into the curriculum based upon the notion of the learner as 'reflective practitioner'. Chapter 6 concretises this approach by seeking to link differences in pedagogy between L1 and L2, and within L2 between second and foreign language learning, with differences in the extent of 'reflective practice' required. In conclusion, tentative suggestions are considered regarding the implications of such an approach for Initial Teacher Education.

This mixed method study investigated the development of E.S.L. writers' skills in revision when scaffolded by peer reviewers, with Lev Vygotsky's social-interactionist theory as the framework. Repeated-measures ANCOVA analyzed scores of four essay projects (first drafts and revisions) evaluated by blind holistic readings with a pretest score as covariant. Participants came from existing sections at a state university in the South in which the instruction was the same. The experimental group wrote revisions based on peer feedback; the control group received instructor feedback. Qualitative data came from semi-structured interviews with participants. Neither group showed significant improvement (at .05) in revising. Interviews revealed participants’ perception that they had improved and also their preference for instructor feedback.

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The world of sponsored professional--Directory of funded opportunities--Grant proposals. / Includes bibliographical references.