Este estudo consiste na comparação de três amostras lingüísticas: o espanhol não-nativo de estudantes brasileiros adultos, o espanhol nativo de informantes montevideanos (considerada como língua meta), e o português do Brasil (língua materna). Todos os informantes receberam uma situação teste em forma de história em quadrinhos, sem texto escrito, de modo que o conteúdo semântico fosse o mesmo e também fossem evitadas as influências léxicas. A situação teste, solicita em espanhol, o uso de estruturas com clíticos dativos, que expressam relações de possessão. Sua realização e a realização de outras estruturas constituem as variáveis lingüísticas a partir das quais, são examinadas e comparadas as diferentes projeções sintáticas. As referências teóricas e o modelo de análise propostos por Fernández e Anula (1995), compatíveis com algumas das teorias de maior poder explicativo na área da lingüística e da aquisição de línguas, contribuíram significativamente pela atenção dedicada aos fenômenos da língua espanhola. Os resultados do nosso estudo mostram estruturas idiossincrásicas no espanhol nãonativo, que respondem a padrões sintáticos regulares, em sua maioria habilitados pelo sistema da língua materna. A análise estatística quantifica as variáveis e mostra distâncias entre o espanhol não-nativo e a língua meta, e entre aquele e a língua materna. / This study consists of a comparison among three linguistic samples: the non-native Spanish of adult Brazilian students, the native Spanish of Montevidean informants (considered as target language), and Brazilian Portuguese (the mother language). All informants received a test situation shown in the comics form, with no written text, so semantic content was the same and lexical influences were avoided. The test situation, in Spanish, requires the usage of structures with dative clitics, which express possessive relations. Its realization and the realization of other structures constitute the linguistic variables, from which diferent projections are examined. The theoretical references and the model of syntatic analysis proposed by Fernández e Anula (1995), compatible with some theories with more explicatory power in the field of linguistics and language acquisition, contributed significantly because of the attention devoted to Spanish language phenomena. Results show idiosyncratic structures in non-native Spanish, responding to regular syntactic patterns, most of which habilitated by the mother tongue\'s system. The data statistical analysis quantifies variables and shows distances between the non-native Spanish and the native Spanish, and between the former and the mother language.

There are many different perceptions when it comes to teachers’ instructional language choice in the EFL classroom. Some argue for maximum use of the target language while others believe that judicious use of the L1 can benefit the students’ second language learning. The aim of this study is to investigate what research says about teachers’ target language use and first language use in upper level EFL classrooms, as well as teachers’ attitudes and beliefs regarding the choice of instructional language. The findings from this systematic literature review show that teachers mainly used L1 to save time, to explain grammar and vocabulary and to create a positive classroom atmosphere. Furthermore, the results also showed that teachers’ choice to use L1 heavily depended on students’ level of proficiency. Lastly, the results indicate that teachers not always use the L1 for pedagogical reasons, but in many cases for pragmatical reasons, individual beliefs and out of concern for students’ well-being.

Previous research using future time perspective or possible selves frameworks provided evidence that learners with definite and elaborate goals, and future self-guides are more motivated in school tasks (Reeve, 2009; Yowell, 2000), exert more effort, demonstrate persistence, and show greater performance (De Volder & Lens, 1982; Lens et al., 2002; Simons et al., 2000), and learners with positive possible selves were better able to face failure, demonstrated better performance, had higher levels of self-esteem, showed more persistence on tasks, and depicted greater motivation (Cross & Markus, 1994; Oyserman et al., 2004; Unemori et al., 2004). The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of future orientation constructs, future time perspective and possible selves, on Turkish college level learners' motivation to learn English and their identity construction, and how future projections of themselves as L2 users (the ideal L2 self, the ought-to L2 self, and feared L2 self) impacted their motivation to learn English and their identities. A total of 299 Turkish graduate students studying in the United States participated in the study. Also, this study examined the extent to which adding a measure of the feared L2 self construct contributed to explaining motivation to learn English and identity construction. The data were collected via surveys and interviews, and they were analyzed quantitatively, using qualitative data for triangulation. Findings suggested that the L2 motivational self-system (Dornyei, 2005, 2009) contributed to explaining Turkish learners' motivation to learn English and their oriented identities. Also, adding a feared L2 self variable to measures of the L2 motivational self system could help explain learners' identity construction but not their language learning motivation. In addition, future time perspective connectedness and value were not useful in explaining the L2 motivation, but future connectedness was found to be related to the ideal L2 self and feared L2 self, and valuing the future goals was related to the ought-to L2 self. Qualitative data showed that learners presented combination of several identities, including national and oriented. They imagined themselves as professional and successful English users, and their L2 related worries included losing their native language and being seen as "assimilated" or as "showing off" individuals. / text

Made available in DSpace on 2015-05-14T12:43:25Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 2925049 bytes, checksum: 7db3636e858edc85278d01dd3f498b7e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-10-19 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / Pieces of research in Applied Linguistics on course planning for teaching and learning a foreign language, especially in pre-service, are still quite scarce. There is a gap to be filled with more studies that investigate teachers development process in order to understand their decision-making and their pedagogical work. The purpose of this investigation was to analyze how undergraduates - during their last period of Letras Course at a private university in the state of Tocantins - built their teaching practice on reading in a foreign language (English). We emphasize the course planning as the locus for the development of reflection and as a relevant field to understand the concepts of language underlying the approaches used in the acquisition of knowledge of the future language teachers. The data showed that the teaching approach demonstrated by the student-teachers are supported by structuralist concepts acquired throughout the years of their experiences as students. The results indicate that it is necessary to rethink curricula that and to include subjects that promote a critical-reflective formation which may foster the development of an autonomous practice of future teachers of languages. / Pesquisas em Linguística Aplicada sobre o planejamento do curso para ensinar e aprender uma língua estrangeira, especialmente na formação pré-serviço, são ainda bastante escassas. Há uma lacuna a ser preenchida com mais estudos que investiguem processos de desenvolvimento do professor em formação a fim de compreender a sua tomada de decisão e o seu trabalho didático-pedagógico. O objetivo desta investigação foi analisar como os alunos de graduação - durante o último período do Curso de Letras de uma universidade privada do Estado do Tocantins - construíram sua prática de ensino da leitura em língua estrangeira (inglês). Enfatizamos o planejamento do curso como o locus para o desenvolvimento da reflexão e como um campo relevante para compreender os conceitos de linguagem subjacentes às abordagens utilizadas na aquisição de conhecimento dos futuros professores de línguas. Os dados mostraram que a abordagem de ensino dos professores-alunos estão sustentadas em conceitos estruturalistas adquiridos ao longo dos anos de suas experiências como estudantes. Os resultados indicam que é necessário repensar os currículos e incluir disciplinas que promovam uma formação crítico-reflexiva, para favorecer o desenvolvimento de uma prática autônoma dos futuros professores de línguas.

No description available.

This qualitative study aims to investigate how teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL) work to develop their students’ oral proficiency. The study analyses interviews and pedagogical materials to elucidate how the interviewed teachers regard their students’ oral proficiency, what kind of activities they use for teaching speaking and how they assess oral proficiency. The participants were two licensed English teachers of higher upper secondary education, and different materials that the teachers used were analysed, including a textbook. The teachers regarded their students’ oral proficiency as generally good or very good but noted that significant differences existed in most groups regarding proficiency and that certain students who were less proficient showed an unwillingness to use the target language, which indicates a need of better strategies to involve these students in the learning process. The findings of this study suggest that the interviewed EFL teachers teach speaking according to the communicative approach and that the activities they use more frequently for teaching speaking were discussions, followed by presentations, speeches, role-playing and debates. However, the interviews and the pedagogical materials reflected a lack of focus on the features of spoken language, the importance of which has been proven by findings in corpus linguistics and conversation analysis. These findings indicate a need to raise awareness among teachers about the benefits of focusing on the features of spoken language. Regarding assessment, informal formative assessment in the form of direct observation was the most common form, while formal assessment was used in presentations and examinations in the form of group discussions. The teachers acknowledged some confusion regarding assessment due to the lack of clear guidelines from Skolverket. Moreover, they regarded speaking as being more important than other skills, which indicates the possibility of redefining the value of speaking in the course evaluation.

The aim of this empirical study is to investigate the role of the L1 (Swedish for the purpose of this study) at upper secondary schools in Sweden, in English class. It also examines teachers’ and students’ attitudes towards the use of the L1 in the ESL classroom. The method that has been used for this thesis is a qualitative research method. In order to collect data, structured open-ended interviews were conducted. A total of eleven upper secondary students from the same school, and six upper secondary ESL teachers from four different schools, participated in this study. The results show that almost all of the participating students and teachers think that the L1 should be allowed in the classroom, as it can be used as a resource for learning. For instance, as the results demonstrate, the L1 was mainly used as a tool to clarify instructions, explain difficult terms, explain vocabulary and grammar rules, when translating, to manage discipline, and when they are socializing with each other. The majority of the participants suggest that the L1 worked as a very helpful tool in the learning process, especially in situations where students lacked understanding. However, there were also critical responses towards the use of the L1, particularly since the L1 can be easily overused. Previous research shares these latter views regarding the use of the L1 in the classroom, and confirms that it is important that learners are exposed to as much English as possible for successful language learning and development.

Este estudo consiste na comparação de três amostras lingüísticas: o espanhol não-nativo de estudantes brasileiros adultos, o espanhol nativo de informantes montevideanos (considerada como língua meta), e o português do Brasil (língua materna). Todos os informantes receberam uma situação teste em forma de história em quadrinhos, sem texto escrito, de modo que o conteúdo semântico fosse o mesmo e também fossem evitadas as influências léxicas. A situação teste, solicita em espanhol, o uso de estruturas com clíticos dativos, que expressam relações de possessão. Sua realização e a realização de outras estruturas constituem as variáveis lingüísticas a partir das quais, são examinadas e comparadas as diferentes projeções sintáticas. As referências teóricas e o modelo de análise propostos por Fernández e Anula (1995), compatíveis com algumas das teorias de maior poder explicativo na área da lingüística e da aquisição de línguas, contribuíram significativamente pela atenção dedicada aos fenômenos da língua espanhola. Os resultados do nosso estudo mostram estruturas idiossincrásicas no espanhol nãonativo, que respondem a padrões sintáticos regulares, em sua maioria habilitados pelo sistema da língua materna. A análise estatística quantifica as variáveis e mostra distâncias entre o espanhol não-nativo e a língua meta, e entre aquele e a língua materna. / This study consists of a comparison among three linguistic samples: the non-native Spanish of adult Brazilian students, the native Spanish of Montevidean informants (considered as target language), and Brazilian Portuguese (the mother language). All informants received a test situation shown in the comics form, with no written text, so semantic content was the same and lexical influences were avoided. The test situation, in Spanish, requires the usage of structures with dative clitics, which express possessive relations. Its realization and the realization of other structures constitute the linguistic variables, from which diferent projections are examined. The theoretical references and the model of syntatic analysis proposed by Fernández e Anula (1995), compatible with some theories with more explicatory power in the field of linguistics and language acquisition, contributed significantly because of the attention devoted to Spanish language phenomena. Results show idiosyncratic structures in non-native Spanish, responding to regular syntactic patterns, most of which habilitated by the mother tongue\'s system. The data statistical analysis quantifies variables and shows distances between the non-native Spanish and the native Spanish, and between the former and the mother language.

The present study investigates communicative strategies used by a group of four upper-secondary L2 learners of English. To be able to reach this goal, I have recorded and transcribed a conversation between these students in order to detect natural communication. The communicative strategies I have looked for were: pauses and hesitations, questions, code-switching and message abandonment. Previous research on communicative strategies is divided into two different fields. These two approaches define and classify communication strategies as either interactional or psycholinguistic.  The definition and classification of communicate strategies depends viz. on what kind of approach is used.

Resumen: La tesina investiga si ha cambiado el uso de la lengua meta en la enseñanza de lenguas modernas en la escuela sueca tras el inicio de Lgy 11. El estudio se realiza a través de una revisión sistemática de literatura. Vemos que en nuestro campo de investigación faltan estudios profundos. Los estudios encontrados indican un aumento del uso de la lengua meta en el aula tras el inicio de Lgy 11. Sin embargo, en pocas situaciones parece cumplirse la norma que indica que todo lo esencial de la enseñanza debe realizarse en la lengua meta. Las unidades de gramática parecen ser el segmento de la enseñanza en el cual los profesores usan el sueco más extensamente. Según los estudios analizados solamente una profesora incorpora la lengua meta cuando enseña la gramática. No obstante, la mayoría de los profesores expresan que la gramática es una parte esencial de la enseñanza de lenguas modernas / This thesis investigates if the usage of the target languages in modern language education in Swedish schools has increased after the introduction of Lgy 11. The methodical approach is a systematic literary review. It is noticeable that the field lacks profound studies regarding the selected theme. The found studies indicate an increase in the usage of the target language in the classroom after the introduction of Lgy 11, however, only rarely is the norm reached that indicates that every essential part of the education should be realised in the target language. Grammar education appears to be the segment in which the teachers use Swedish to the highest extent. In the analysed studies there is only one teacher that includes the target language when teaching grammar. However, the majority of the teachers express that grammar is an essential part of the education of modern languages