Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Language use in the L2 classroom'

A consistent use of the target language during English lessons is beneficial for pupils’ linguistic development, but also challenging for both teachers and pupils. The main purpose for pupils to learn English is to be able to use it in communication, which requires that they develop the ability to comprehend input, produce output and use language strategies. Several researchers claim that a consistent use of the target language is necessary in order to develop these abilities. Therefore, the aim of this study is to examine the target language use during English lessons in Swedish grades 4-6, and what pupils’ opinions regarding target language use are. The methods used to collect data consisted of a pupil questionnaire with 42 respondents and an observation of two teachers’ English lessons during a week’s time. The results from the observations show that the teachers use plenty of target language during lessons, but the first language as well to explain things that pupils might experience difficult to understand otherwise. The results from the questionnaire mainly show that the pupils seem to enjoy English and like to both speak and hear the target language during lessons. The main input comes from listening to a CD with dialogues and exercises in the textbook and the workbook, and from the teacher speaking. The results also show that a majority of the pupils use the target language in their spare time. A conclusion that can be drawn from this study is that the TL should be used to a large extent in order to support pupils’ linguistic development. However, teachers may sometimes need to use L1 in order to facilitate understanding of the things that many pupils find difficult, for example grammar. Suggestions for further research in this area include similar studies conducted on a larger scale.

Engelska

Even though English is a subject where Swedish pupils do well compared to pupils in other countries, research indicates that pupils are not always motivated to learn in the English classroom. Therefore, the aim of this study is to find research relating to the use of the target language in classrooms for pupils at the upper elementary level, particularly language learners in Sweden. The focus of this thesis is to find out what benefits and challenges accompany the use of the target language during English lessons, as well as what pupils’ opinions are on the consistent use of the target language in the classroom. This literature review of five research articles shows that it is beneficial for pupils’ language development to have lessons where mainly the target language is used. It is for example beneficial for pupils’ ability to speak, their pronunciation, vocabulary and ability to use language strategies. The results show that there are challenges as well, especially for the teachers, since use of the target language presumes that the teacher has good language skills and is capable of scaffolding each pupil at their individual level and in their zone of proximal development. Furthermore, there are challenges like differences in pupils’ skill level, creating tasks that both motivate and stimulate, and creating a safe learning environment. Even though the results in this thesis are limited, it is still obvious that it is an important area, where more research is necessary in order to assist teachers in how to teach English as effectively as possible.

Engelska

The purpose of this study is to find out whether pupils English language learning benefits from using Swedish during the English lessons. I decided to collect my material from interviews in combination with classroom observations. I chose to start with the observation of the class and the teacher during one lesson before I did my interview. It is difficult to draw any conclusions of this with only the two schools I visited. If I were to do it again I would have chosen two schools that both start teaching English at the same age and devote the same amount of time each week to learning English. I did not discover any findings to support my theory that it would be beneficial to exclude Swedish during English lessons, nor did I find the opposite. The teachers from the observations felt it was necessary to use Swedish during the English lessons with the argument that it helped them learn Swedish better. Since that was not exactly my question I felt that my findings were inconclusive.

Abstract It has been claimed that teachers who possess a low level of self-efficacy may impede the learning process for students. When teachers do not possess a high self-efficacy, they may not believe strongly in their own ability to teach, which could in turn lead to unmotivated students in the second language classroom. The purpose of this research is to examine in what way the self-efficacy of Swedish L2 teachers of English influences their way of teaching in the second language classroom both in terms of how it affects their approach to teaching and how it affects the strategies and methods they choose touse in the classroom to strengthen their own students’ self-efficacy. The study uses a qualitative research method. Data was collected through questionnaires, classroom observations and follow-up questionnaires with five English teachers in Southern Sweden. Findings of the study suggest that teachers' with a high level of self-efficacy more positively influence their teaching approach than those who possess a low level of self-efficacy, which can impede their way of teaching. It was also found that the strategies teachers found useful for improving students’ self-efficacy were: language use, scaffolding and group work. This result could be important for further theoretical and pedagogical research for all in an educational position.

Teaching & Learning
Ed.D.
In this study I investigated foreign language learners' Willingness to Communicate, frequency of L2 communication, and eight individual difference variables hypothesized to influence them: L2 learning anxiety, L2 learning motivation, integrativeness, international posture, ought-to L2 self, ideal L2 self, L2 linguistic self-confidence, and valuing of global English. Based on the concept of possible selves (Markus & Nurius, 1986), Dörnyei (2005) proposed the concept of the ideal L2 self: an idealized self-image involving future linguistic proficiency and professional success through mastery of an L2. In this study, Dörnyei's (2005) hypothesis that Willingness to Communicate is primarily determined by linguistic self-confidence and the ideal L2 self is tested using a structural equation model. A second purpose of this study, tested by comparing alternative structural equation models, was to confirm whether students' self-reported Willingness to Communicate best predicts foreign language use in the classroom. In addition, gender differences in L2 WTC and the ideal L2 self, and the effects of visualization and goal-setting activities on the enhancement of Willingness to Communicate were investigated using multivariate statistical techniques. A total of 662 Japanese university students participated in the study, 373 as core participants and 289 for cross validation. A model was hypothesized based on the WTC model (MacIntyre, 1994), the socioeducational model (Gardner, 1985), and the concept of the L2 Motivational Self System (Dörnyei, 2005), and tested using questionnaire data collected at the beginning of the university semester. The hypothesized model showed marginal fit to the data (CFI = .902, RMSEA = .081). The path from ideal L2 self to L2 WTC, tested for the first time in this study, was the most substantial predictor of L2 WTC in the model with a path weight of .51. It was also confirmed that self-reported estimates of WTC directly predicted observed L2 use in the classroom, while Motivation and Ideal L2 Self did not. A model specifying a direct path from WTC to L2 Use and indirect paths via WTC for Motivation and Ideal L2 Self showed good fit to the data (CFI = .962; RMSEA = .083). Regarding gender differences, female participants scored higher than males in both L2 WTC and Ideal L2 Self. Concerning whether L2 WTC can be enhanced by classroom tasks such as visualization and goal-setting, the results suggested that the visualization treatment alone was not effective in enhancing learners' L2 WTC over the non-treatment group. The increase in learners' L2 WTC was significantly greater for the When visualization and goal-setting group compared with the visualization group and the non-treatment group. The first implication of this study is that considering the strong impact of ideal L2 self on L2 WTC, there is significant potential for enhancing L2 WTC by applying motivational strategies that enhance or develop second language learners' ideal L2 self. Second, considering the importance of L2 output for developing communicative proficiency, the finding that self-reported L2 WTC predicted actual L2 use in the classroom lends additional credence to such motivational approaches. That finding also supports the validity of other studies that have relied on self-report for measures of L2 WTC. A third implication is that because females generally exhibited higher measures for L2 WTC and Ideal L2 Self, gender diversity is preferable to promote active classroom communication. Finally, for researchers and practitioners interested in designing activities to enhance learners' L2 WTC, connecting the proximal goals in the class to future distal goals (Miller & Brickman, 2004) could be an important aspect for the success of the activities).
Temple University--Theses

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.

In this thesis I investigate the practices and perceptions of some Newly Qualified Teachers (NQTs) of modern foreign languages (MFL) in Scotland in relation to how they use the target language (L2). I seek to answer the questions “In what different ways do student teachers of modern languages use the target language in Scottish secondary school classrooms?’, ‘What reasons do they give for how they use it?” and “In what way(s), if any, do newly qualified teachers of modern languages change teaching pedagogy in their initial stages of teaching in relation to the use of the target language and what reasons do they give for any changes they make?”. The issue arises because of the continuing gap between what initial teacher education (ITE) advocates in respect of L2 use and what qualified teachers say they do, in so far as there is evidence in this area. There is little empirical evidence relating to how and why MFL NQTs develop the practices and perceptions of qualified teachers. Data was gathered through an online questionnaire issued to all modern languages teachers in Scotland and semi-structured interviews were conducted with a small group of PGDE (Secondary) Modern Languages students at the end of their PGDE year and at the end of their first year of teaching as NQTs. Audio-recordings of the NQTs were also made during this first year of teaching. Data from the four sources were analysed using an inductive approach, remaining flexible in terms of extending, modifying and discarding categories. The findings revealed that the NQTs used considerably less target language during their NQT year and had changed their views on the target language substantially since their PGDE year. They reported that they found it difficult to use L2 for discipline, grammar teaching, explaining things and for social chat. At the same time there were huge changes in their practice and big changes in their views vis-à-vis L2 use. Significantly, the data revealed that these changes in practice and views happened very quickly, were a lot starker and occurred a lot faster than previously thought. This situation seems to have many causes – influences from experienced colleagues, survival tactics, how teachers develop their own pedagogy and identity as teachers. This thesis recommends that those involved in ITE and Career Long Professional Learning look particularly at the two areas of situated learning and teacher cognition in relation to the use of the target language. It further recommends collaborative research between teachers in schools and other agencies, such as Education Scotland and local authority quality improvement officers, together with teacher educators to develop an understanding of how to promote effective learning and teaching strategies in relation to the use of the target language in class.

This thesis explores the relationship between the use of the L1 and L2 in different classroom contexts. The aim of the study was to investigate the use of the L1 within the overall interactional organisation of L2 classroom discourse using a combination of CA sequential analysis and a CL approach. The data for this study consist of 27 video-recorded hours of classroom interaction from primary to university classes. It is argued that a CA context-based approach to the use of the L1 may be more suitable for depicting the variations in L2 classroom interaction than an overall description of the functions within the lesson as a whole that does not take into account the different contexts that can occur within a single lesson. Following Seedhouse’s (2004 p. 207) concept of L2 classroom context as “the instantiation of a particular pedagogic focus and a particular organization of interaction”, the study looks at how the L1 and the L2 are used in each context. The organisation of turn-taking and repair within each context is illustrated using classroom transcripts. The argument is developed using the emic sequential analysis of CA and adapting the classic CA question: “why that language, in that context, right now?” The functions of L1 use by both teachers and learners are identified using an adapted version of Ferguson’s (2003) system of categorisation. Some of the identified functions are similar to those found in previous studies, while new ones are also identified. The functions are located within the different contexts with the help of CL. It was found that at the macro context level some functions are pertinent to a specific context and that those functions are appropriate to the pedagogical focus of the context in which they operate. Moreover, some other functions behave differently in different contexts. At the micro-interaction level, two distinct uses of the L1 were identified: background and foreground uses of the L1. The study concludes that the use of the L1 can facilitate L2 classroom interaction and that a combination of CA and CL could provide a more complete understanding of L2 classroom discourse. It is also recommended that managing language alternation in the L2 classroom could be incorporated as a component of classroom interactional competence (Walsh 2006).

The present study examined how much, when, and why six Swedish primary school teachers use Swedish when it comes to teaching English as a second language to students in years 4-5. This study also aimed to answer whether the L1 use is affected by the teacher’s education, experience, or confidence, and how the L1 use differed between years 4-5, if at all. In summary, the study showed that the participating teachers used a small amount of Swedish in the English classroom. The use was not unnecessary; it was used with a purpose in mind. Although there were some signs of guilt as a result of using L1, the teachers were not reluctant to use it. The teaching was influenced by the sociocultural theory, communicative language teaching, and cooperative learning; all theories and approaches promoting active learners and scaffolding. L1 was seen as a learning and teaching tool to help increase students’ comprehension, reduce anxiety, and enhance L2 acquisition. All teachers agreed that L1 needs to be balanced and adapted to fit the learners’ comprehension. There was no evidence of L1 use being affected by the teachers’ education, experience, or confidence; as well as no evidence of differences between years 4 and 5. Further observations would have to be made to conclude whether the L1 use differs for the above mentioned reasons.

Godkänt datum 2020-01-19

It has been widely debated whether the use of the mother tongue is effective when learning a new language or if teachers should instead use the target language all the time in a language classroom. While some research shows that the use of the mother tongue is detrimental, other studies suggest that it can be used as a tool (e.g. for translations and for instructions) for teaching a new language. This study aims at exploring whether English or Swedish is predominantly used in English language teaching in Swedish primary schools and which factors contribute to the choice of language. Three primary school teachers and their pupils aged between 8 and10 at two primary schools in Sweden participated in the study. The data were collected through surveys and observations and analyzed using qualitative content analysis. The findings show that the Swedish language is predominantly used during English lessons. Moreover, according to the participants in the study, this dominance is linked to the teachers´ need to create a positive classroom environment where the pupils feel safe, comfortable, and confident using their mother tongue as a tool for language learning.

Due to the fact that adolescents are familiar with so many different media and technology resources today, learning in a conventional way is no longer effective. The aim for this literature review was to analyse what research shows about the use of film as a teaching tool in English to develop students’ linguistic and critical thinking skills in upper secondary EFL classrooms. The results disclosed that film can improve students’ linguistic skills and critical thinking. One reason for this is that film is already such a large part of students’ lives and provides a meaningful and familiar context for them and that film offers visual support. Studentsʼ felt motivated to see and experience “real-life” situations as opposed to reading the conventional textbook. Interaction between the students also proved to be vital in developing their language skills. Results also showed that it is imperative that teachers present film not only as a tool of entertainment, but one for teaching as well. This can be done by creating contextualized assignments related to the film. The literature review concluded that there are gaps in knowledge of this subject and that further research is desirable.

Previous studies have shown that teachers and students using English as the medium of instruction (EMI) in science classrooms encounter many language challenges with teaching and learning processes. Problems include the limited English communication skills of science teachers, the lack of EMI training for science teachers, the students' different language abilities and science teachers' beliefs that they are not responsible for addressing students' language needs in science. Teachers' lack of language awareness has led to poor teaching practices and limited interactions in the classrooms. This lack of language awareness, in turn, suggests that there are limited opportunities for students to learn English as a second language in the science classroom. This study extends the research on EMI classroom interactions in Hong Kong (Lo and Macaro, 2012) to the previously unexamined context of senior secondary science classrooms. A total of 19 teachers and 545 students from grades 10 and 11 EMI science class were recruited in Hong Kong from 'early-full EMI' schools (full EMI instruction from grades 7 to 12) and 'late-partial EMI' schools (Chinese medium from grades 7 to 9 and partial EMI instruction from grades 10 to 12). The project used multiple sources of qualitative data (i.e. semi-structured interviews and 33 videotaped classroom observations) to explore the similarities and differences in classroom interactions during the first and second years of the senior science curriculum (grades 10 and 11) in the two types of EMI schools. This project also investigated these science teachers' and students' perceptions of EMI teaching and learning processes, their preference of instructional language and their beliefs about teaching and learning in the EMI environment. Interviews also probed teachers' language awareness, teachers' and students' belief about EMI, students' self-concepts in science (students' perceptions or beliefs about their ability to do well in science, see Wilkins, 2004)) and their perceptions of language challenges and coping strategies in EMI classrooms. The results from the observational data show similar interactional patterns in both early-full and late-partial EMI science classrooms when measured as percentages of interaction time, distribution of time between teacher and student talk and frequency of pedagogical functions. However, the nature of the interactions is different. In late-partial EMI schools, overall, there are more (but shorter) student initiations and responses, more use of higher-order questions from the teachers but less direct feedback to students. Both teachers and students tend to use their L1 more. In both types of schools, there was less interaction time and a lower maximum length of student turns and more L1 use in grade 11 than in grade 10. The discourse analysis of the four biology lesson transcripts also shows that both early-full and late-partial EMI students predominantly produced incomplete sentences consisting of short, technical nouns or noun phrases referring to scientific items. Science teachers rarely made any attempts to correct their students' language mistakes, nor did they encourage students to produce a complete sentence. This lack of teacher feedback on students' L2 language production perhaps reflects the fact that EMI science teachers rarely provide comprehensible input to facilitate students' L2 language learning. These findings suggest the important role of the teacher's modified input in teacher-student interaction in developing students' content knowledge and language skills. The adoption of EMI appears to lead to the development of students' comprehension of content knowledge more than development of their language production skills. As a result of their language shortfalls, the students' L2 productive skills remain under-developed despite English instruction. This lack of language support by teachers appears to indicate a gap between the aims of the EMI policy and its implementation. The interview and questionnaire data show that the science teachers from both the early-full and late-partial EMI schools held many of the same views about their EMI teaching experiences, but they differed in their attitudes towards the value of English language skills and their language awareness. The early-full EMI teachers believed English language skills were important and these early-full teachers have a higher language awareness than the late-partial EMI science teachers. Students from both types of schools also held similar views about their EMI learning, indicating that they welcome the adoption of EMI instruction. However, while the late-partial EMI students see EMI as an opportunity to improve their English, those in the early-full EMI schools believe that EMI discouraged them from learning. By providing an evidence-based, pedagogically focused analysis of teacher and student classroom interactions and their perceptions, this research sheds light on ways to improve the quality of instructional practices in different EMI classrooms in Hong Kong and in similar contexts around the world.

Denna avhandling handlar om en förberedelseklass med elever (7-10 år) som har ett annat hemspråk än svenska (arabiska, kurdiska, thailändska). Utifrån empiri som samlats in genom videoinspelningar och observationer under ett års tid i en förberedelseklass studeras elevernas deltagande och språkinlärning i det dagliga klassrumsarbetet. I studien kombineras språksocialisationsteorier med en konversationsanalytisk ansats som bygger på detaljerade transkriptioner och analyser av interaktionen. Mer specifikt studeras elevernas kommunikativa praktiker såsom de utvecklas i klassrummets interaktionella ekologi och på ett sätt som situerar elevernas svenska språkutveckling inom ramen för deras konkreta klassrumserfarenheter. Tre återkommande kommunikativa praktiker identifieras och analyseras ingående: (1) påkallande av uppmärksamhet; (2) självselektioner till talturer i flerpartsamtal; (3) språklek och metapragmatisk lek. Resultaten presenteras i fyra studier. Den första artikeln fokuserar på hur eleverna påkallar lärarens uppmärksamhet under individuellt arbete. Studien visar hur de uppgraderar sina försök att försäkra sig om lärarens uppmärksamhet genom att använda både verbala och icke-verbala resurser, inklusive affektiva markeringar och klassrumsartefakter. I den andra studien analyseras elevernas självselektioner i lärarledda samtal ur ett longitudinellt perspektiv. I artikeln framkommer hur deltagandet i dessa aktiviteter är intimt relaterat till språkliga och interaktionella kompetenser med konsekvenser för elevens ’identitet’ i klassrumsgemenskapen. I den tredje studien utforskas barnens metapragmatiska lekar. Studien visar hur de skapar skämtsamma episoder i vilka de överträder lokala normer för språkbruk. I den fjärde studien analyseras slutligen barnens spontana språklekar, vilka kan ta formen av egeninitierade ’språklektioner’, ett gemensamt utforskande av språklig form och mening, som även innefattar något av ett offentligt framträdande för kamratgruppen. Sammantaget, visar studierna olika aspekter av informellt lärande i ett klassrum och lyfter fram praktiker som hitintills ofta förbigåtts i forskning om andraspråkslärande.
The present thesis investigates L2 learners’ participation and language learning in a Swedish immersion classroom (ages 7-10). The data consist of video recordings and observations of classroom (and recess) activities, during one school year. Methodologically, the present thesis combines insights from language socialization with detailed transcriptions and analysis, inspired by conversation analytic approaches. More specifically, the learners’ communicative practices are studied as they emerge in the interactional ecology of a specific classroom, situating Swedish language (L2) development within the concrete classroom experiences of the learner. Three communicative practices were recurrently identified in the children’s classroom repertoires: (i) summonses; (ii) self-selections; (iii) language play, including metapragmatic play. The findings are documented in four studies. The first article focuses on how L2 novices solicit the teacher’s attention during individual seatwork. It illustrates how the novices upgraded their attempts to secure the teacher’s attention by employing multimodally structured summons turns, involving affective stances and displays of classroom artefacts. In the second study, an L2 novice’s self-selections in teacher-fronted (conversational) activities are analysed in a longitudinal perspective, showing how participation in such activities was related to language, and interactional skills, that were consequential for ‘learner’ identity in the classroom community. The third study explores the children’s metapragmatic play and demonstrates how they created joking episodes, involving transgressions from local classroom norms. Finally, the fourth study analyses children’s spontaneous form-focused language play. It demonstrates that such playful episodes and transgressions from ‘correct’ language form recurrently evolved into spontaneous peer-run ‘language lessons’; a form of aesthetic explorations of language form and meaning, involving multiparty public performances. As a whole, the present studies illuminate different aspects of informal learning in language classrooms, highlighting practices that have largely escaped systematic attention in much prior work on second language acquisition.

This thesis tackles the issues of foreign language education, with special attention to German as a foreign language, and STEM education in the K-12, and in some cases K-16, educational system. After exploring the societal and national need for improved STEM and foreign language education programs, this thesis suggests methods of integrating STEM education elements and principals in the foreign language classroom. These methods are provided in chapters about integrating state and national education standards in the STEM fields, core academic subject fields, and foreign language teaching, and finally in chapters about the most appropriate and effective pedagogies for successful STEM and foreign language integration. The thesis brings together research about such integration in learning modules and discussion about assessment methods and further areas of research needed. The learning modules and research are answering a call for a need to shift education in the direction of an integrative, interdisciplinary approach that supports deeper learning, meaning making, and student interest.

This independent degree project investigates the vocabulary profiles in English language learning textbooks used in Sweden, and whether the vocabulary profiles follow the expected levels according to the CEFR and The Swedish National Agency for Education. This was done by a corpus-driven method, as well as a lexical analysis using search tools such as the English Vocabulary Profile, Text Inspector, and Compleat Lexical Tutor. The corpus contained texts from six different textbooks used in year 6, year 9, and in the English 7 course, as well as a number of news articles from The Guardian. The news articles served the purpose of comparing the vocabulary levels in the textbooks for English 7 with the vocabulary levels in advanced written English, which is a requirement for students to be able to understand in order to reach the grade E in English 7. The lexical analysis focused on lexical diversity, word families, word frequency, and the CEFR levels. The results showed that the vocabulary levels in the textbooks were appropriate, but that they might not provide enough challenge for students aiming for the higher grades. Results also showed that the vocabulary levels advanced in relation with the school years. The analysis revealed that between 90 and 97 percent of the vocabulary in the texts were categorized as within the CEFR levels that were expected of each of the school years. Pedagogical implictions drawn from this investigation are that teachers should teach about word families and that they can benefit from using the EVP when providing educational material in addition to textbooks.

Spanish
Ph.D.
In the context of language instruction and learning, L2 willingness to communicate (WTC) is a relevant factor in learners’ language use. It is viewed as a volitional process influenced by individual, social, linguistic, and situationally dependent factors. Foundational research focuses on either trait or state WTC-influencing factors as separate entities. Current research considers the dynamic relationship that occurs between the two though less research exists on how WTC manifests in classroom interaction. This study investigates such differences by examining learners’ self-reported, perceived trait WTC and situational state WTC. It treats WTC as a dynamic entity which is shaped by learners’ investment in language learning and the identity they take on as language learners. It considers the relationship of WTC to its three most influential trait variables: motivation, L2 perceived competence, and L2 anxiety. It presents findings of additional variables influencing state WTC. Data were comprised of questionnaire surveys, focal participant interviews, and classroom observations. Quantitative data consisted of 39 participants, and qualitative data consisted of 12 focal participants. The importance of the present study lies in its investigation of WTC in relation to trait and state factors, and its stance that investment in L2 learning is a key factor in fostering classroom WTC. Finally, it explores how WTC can be positively fostered to optimize the learner’s language experience.
Temple University--Theses

CITE/Language Arts
Ph.D.
This microanalytic study focuses on the mutimodal word look-up practices of Japanese foreign language learners of English at the novice level using electronic dictionaries (e-dictionaries) in pair conversations. Not yet investigated with a Conversation Analysis (CA) approach, this analysis examines reoccurring interactional and collaborative repair practices (Schegloff, Jefferson, & Sacks, 1977; Schegloff, 2000) of the learners' look-ups, and explicates from the sequential turn-taking procedures (Sacks, Schegloff, & Jefferson, 1974), the underlying social organization of the e-dictionary look-up sequence. Recent research has found that not-yet-fluent learners are capable of relatively smooth turn-taking (Carroll, 2000, 2004), and they employ various embodied actions (Olsher, 2004) to complete their turns. Nonvocal resources such as gaze movement (Goodwin, 1981) and gestures were also investigated in order to better understand how learners collaboratively utilize vocal and nonvocal resources in hybrid actions, to co-construct the meaning of look-up words, and maintain intersubjectivity. While enrolled in a university intensive English program, thirteen native speakers of Japanese video-recorded thirty-minute conversations; and during these conversations, they completed look-up sequences as interactional achievements. The results indicated that EFL novice learners display sophisticated competencies when using e-dictionaries for communication. While collaboratively completing look-up sequences, they display multimodal competencies by noticing trouble with words, initiating look-ups, making candidate proposals of word translations, correcting themselves, mutually acknowledging their understanding, and maintaining intersubjectivity and sequential relevance. In terms of language learning, learners' collaborative learning of words demonstrates instances of learning-as-interaction (Brouwer & Wagner, 2004; Firth & Wagner, 2007), making public the participants' socially situated cognition. Indications of a change in the participants' cognitive state can emerge in the look-up sequential organization. A lack of knowledge is displayed publically in before-look-up actions, encouraging collaboration in the look-up. Multiple proposals and acknowledgement sequences, often displayed in embodied expansions, provide multimodal indications of a possible change in cognitive state and possible gain in knowledge. Thus, the look-up sequence organization is proposed as an interactional organization for the learning of vocabulary. Finally, the understanding of sequential structures and practices that interactants use in looking up words can inform teachers concerning the efficacy of e-dictionary use in the classroom.
Temple University--Theses

There are many factors which make speaking and understanding a second language (L2) a highly complex challenge. Skills and competencies in in both linguistic and metalinguistic areas emerge as parts of a multi-faceted, flexible concept underlying bilingual/multilingual communication. On the linguistic level, a combination of an extended knowledge of idiomatic expressions, a broad lexical familiarity, a large vocabulary size, and the ability to deal with phonetic distinctions and fine phonetic detail has been argued necessary for effective nonnative comprehension of spoken language. The scientific interest in these factors has also led to more interest in the L2’s information structure, the way in which information is organised and packaged into informational units, both within and between clauses. On a practical level, the information structure of a language can offer the means to assign focus to a certain element considered important. Speakers can draw from a rich pool of linguistic means to express this focus, and listeners can in turn interpret these to guide them to the highlighted information which in turn facilitates comprehension, resulting in an appropriate understanding of what has been said. If a speaker doesn’t follow the principles of information structure, and the main accent in a sentence is placed on an unimportant word, then there may be inappropriate information transfer within the discourse, and misunderstandings. The concept of focus as part of the information structure of a language, the linguistic means used to express it, and the differential use of focus in native and nonnative language processing are central to this dissertation. Languages exhibit a wide range of ways of directing focus, including by prosodic means, by syntactic constructions, and by lexical means. The general principles underlying information structure seem to contrast structurally across different languages, and they can also differ in the way they express focus. In the context of L2 acquisition, characteristics of the L1 linguistic system are argued to influence the acquisition of the L2. Similarly, the conceptual patterns of information structure of the L1 may influence the organization of information in the L2. However, strategies and patterns used to exploit information structure for succesful language comprehension in the native L1, may not apply at all, or work in different ways or todifferent degrees in the L2. This means that L2 learners ideally have to understand the way that information structure is expressed in the L2 to fully use the information structural benefit in the L2. The knowledge of information structural requirements in the L2 could also imply that the learner would have to make adjustments regarding the use of information structural devices in the L2. The general question is whether the various means to mark focus in the learners’ native language are also accessible in the nonnative language, and whether a L1-L2 transfer of their usage should be considered desirable. The current work explores how information structure helps the listener to discover and structure the forms and meanings of the L2. The central hypothesis is that the ability to access information structure has an impact on the level of the learners’ appropriateness and linguistic competence in the L2. Ultimately, the ability to make use of information structure in the L2 is believed to underpin the L2 learners’ ability to effectively communicate in the L2. The present study investigated how use of focus markers affects processing speed and word recall recall in a native-nonnative language comparison. The predominant research question was whether the type of focus marking leads to more efficient and accurate word processing in marked structures than in unmarked structures, and whether differences in processing patterns can be observed between the two language conditions. Three perception studies were conducted, each concentrating on one of the following linguistic parameters: 1. Prosodic prominence: Does prosodic focus conveyed by sentence accent and by word position facilitate word recognition? 2. Syntactical means: Do cleft constructions result in faster and more accurate word processing? 3. Lexical means: Does focus conveyed by the particles even/only (German: sogar/nur) facilitate word processing and word recall? Experiments 2 and 3 additionally investigated the contribution of context in the form of preceding questions. Furthermore, they considered accent and its facilitative effect on the processing of words which are in the scope of syntactic or lexical focus marking. All three experiments tested German learners of English in a native German language condition and in English as their L2. Native English speakers were included as a control for the English language condition. Test materials consisted of single sentences, all dealing with bird life. Experiment 1 tested word recognition in three focus conditions (broad focus, narrow focus on the target, and narrow focus on a constituent than the target) in one condition using natural unmanipulated sentences, and in the other two conditions using spliced sentences. Experiment 2 (effect of syntactic focus marking) and Experiment 3 (effect of lexical focus marking) used phoneme monitoring as a measure for the speed of word processing. Additionally, a word recall test (4AFC) was conducted to assess the effective entry of target-bearing words in the listeners’ memory. Experiment 1: Focus marking by prosodic means Prosodic focus marking by pitch accent was found to highlight important information (Bolinger, 1972), making the accented word perceptually more prominent (Klatt, 1976; van Santen & Olive, 1990; Eefting, 1991; Koopmans-van Beinum & van Bergem, 1989). However, accent structure seems to be processed faster in native than in nonnative listening (Akker& Cutler, 2003, Expt. 3). Therefore, it is expected that prosodically marked words are better recognised than unmarked words, and that listeners can exploit accent structure better for accurate word recognition in their L1 than they do in the L2 (L1 > L2). Altogether, a difference in word recognition performance in L1 listening is expected between different focus conditions (narrow focus > broad focus). Results of Experiments 1 show that words were better recognized in native listening than in nonnative listening. Focal accent, however, doesn’t seem to help the German subjects recognize accented words more accurately, in both the L1 and the L2. This could be due to the focus conditions not being acoustically distinctive enough. Results of experiments with spliced materials suggest that the surrounding prosodic sentence contour made listeners remember a target word and not the local, prosodic realization of the word. Prosody seems to indeed direct listeners’ attention to the focus of the sentence (see Cutler, 1976). Regarding the salience of word position, VanPatten (2002; 2004) postulated a sentence location principle for L2 processing, stating a ranking of initial > final > medial word position. Other evidence mentions a processing adantage of items occurring late in the sentence (Akker & Cutler, 2003), and Rast (2003) observed in an English L2 production study a trend of an advantage of items occurring at the outer ends of the sentence. The current Experiment 1 aimed to keep the length of the sentences to an acceptable length, mainly to keep the task in the nonnative lnaguage condition feasable. Word length showed an effect only in combination with word position (Rast, 2003; Rast & Dommergues, 2003). Therefore, word length was included in the current experiment as a secondary factor and without hypotheses. Results of Experiment 1 revealed that the length of a word doesn’t seem to be important for its accurate recognition. Word position, specifically the final position, clearly seems to facilitate accurate word recognition in German. A similar trend emerges in condition English L2, confirming Klein (1984) and Slobin (1985). Results don’t support the sentence location principle of VanPatten (2002; 2004). The salience of the final position is interpreted as recency effect (Murdock, 1962). In addition, the advantage of the final position may benefit from the discourse convention that relevant background information is referred to first, and then what is novel later (Haviland & Clark, 1974). This structure is assumed to cue the listener as to what the speaker considers to be important information, and listeners might have reacted according to this convention. Experiment 2: Focus marking by syntactic means Atypical syntactic structures often draw listeners’ attention to certain information in an utterance, and the cleft structure as a focus marking device appears to be a common surface feature in many languages (Lambrecht, 2001). Surface structure influences sentence processing (Foss & Lynch, 1969; Langford & Holmes, 1979), which leads to competing hypotheses in Experiment 2: on the one hand, the focusing effect of the cleft construction might reduce processing times. On the other, cleft constructions in German were found to be used less to mark fo than in English (Ahlemeyer & Kohlhof, 1999; Doherty, 1999; E. Klein, 1988). The complexity of the constructions, and the experience from the native language might work against an advantage of the focus effect in the L2. Results of Experiment 2 show that the cleft structure is an effective device to mark focus in German L1. The processing advantage is explained by the low degree of structural markedness of cleft structures: listeners use the focus function of sentence types headed by the dummy subject es (English: it) due to reliance on 'safe' subject-prominent SVO-structures. The benefit of cleft is enhanced when the sentences are presented with context, suggesting a substantial benefit when focus effects of syntactic surface structure and coherence relation between sentences are integrated. Clefts facilitate word processing for English native speakers. Contrary to German L1, the marked cleft construction doesn’t reduce processing times in English L2. The L1-L2 difference was interpreted as a learner problem of applying specific linguistic structures according to the principles of information structure in the target language. Focus marking by cleft did not help German learners in native or in nonnative word recall. This could be attributed to the phonological similarity of the multiple choice options (Conrad & Hull, 1964), and to a long time span between listening and recall (Birch & Garnsey, 1995; McKoon et al., 1993). Experiment 3: Focus marking by lexical means Focus particles are elements of structure that can indicate focus (König, 1991), and their function is to emphasize a certain part of the sentence (Paterson et al., 1999). I argue that the focus particles even/only (German: sogar/nur) evoke contrast sets of alternatives resp. complements to the element in focus (Ni et al., 1996), which causes interpretations of context. Therefore, lexical focus marking isn’t expected to lead to faster word processing. However, since different mechanisms of encoding seem to underlie word memory, a benefit of the focusing function of particles is expected to show in the recall task: due to focus particles being a preferred and well-used feature for native speakers of German, a transfer of this habitualness is expected, resulting in a better recall of focused words. Results indicated that focus particles seem to be the weakest option to mark focus: Focus marking by lexical particle don’t seem to reduce word processing times in either German L1, English L2, or in English L1. The presence of focus particles is likely to instantiate a complex discourse model which lets the listener await further modifying information (Liversedge et al., 2002). This semantic complexity might slow down processing. There are no indications that focus particles facilitate native language word recall in German L1 and English L1. This could be because focus particles open sets of conditions and contexts that enlarge the set of representations in listeners rather than narrowing it down to the element in the scope of the focus particle. In word recall, the facilitative effect of focus particles emerges only in the nonnative language condition. It is suggested that L2 learners, when faced with more demanding tasks in an L2, use a broad variety of means that identify focus for a better representation of novel words in the memory. In Experiments 2 and 3, evidence suggests that accent is an important factor for efficient word processing and accurate recall in German L1 and English L1, but less so in English L2. This underlines the function of accent as core speech parameter and consistent cue to the perception of prominence native language use (see Cutler & Fodor, 1979; Pitt & Samuel, 1990a; Eriksson et al., 2002; Akker & Cutler, 2003); the L1-L2 difference is attributed to patterns of expectation that are employed in the L1 but not (yet?) in the L2. There seems to exist a fine-tuned sensitivity to how accents are distributed in the native language, listeners expect an appropriate distribution and interpret it accordingly (Eefting, 1991). This pleads for accent placement as extremely important to L2 proficiency; the current results also suggest that accent and its relationship with other speech parameters has to be newly established in the L2 to fully reveal its benefits for efficient processing of speech. There is evidence that additional context facilitates processing of complex syntactic structures but that a surplus of information has no effect if the sentence construction is less challenging for the listener. The increased amount of information to be processed seems to impede better word recall, particularly in the L2. Altogether, it seems that focus marking devices and context can combine to form an advantageous alliance: a substantial benefit in processing efficiency is found when parameters of focus marking and sentence coherence are integrated. L2 research advocates the beneficial aspects of providing context for efficient L2 word learning (Lawson & Hogben, 1996). The current thesis promotes the view that a context which offers more semantic, prosodic, or lexical connections might compensate for the additional processing load that context constitutes for the listeners. A methodological consideration concerns the order in which language conditions are presented to listeners, i.e., L1-L2 or L2-L1. Findings suggest that presentation order could enforce a learning bias, with the performance in the second experiment being influenced by knowledge acquired in the first (see Akker & Cutler, 2003). To conclude this work: The results of the present study suggest that information structure is more accessible in the native language than it is in the nonnative language. There is, however, some evidence that L2 learners have an understanding of the significance of some information-structural parameters of focus marking. This has a beneficial effect on processing efficiency and recall accuracy; on the cognitive side it illustrates the benefits and also the need of a dynamic exchange of information-structural organization between L1 and L2. The findings of the current thesis encourage the view that an understanding of information structure can help the learner to discover and categorise forms and meanings of the L2. Information structure thus emerges as a valuable resource to advance proficiency in a second language.
Das Sprechen und Verstehen einer Fremdsprache (L2) stellt eine komplexe Leistung für einen Nicht-Muttersprachler dar. Kenntnisse und Fertigkeiten auf verschiedenen sprachlichen und außersprachlichen Ebenen wirken dabei zusammen, wie z.B. eine andere Grammatik, neue Lautbildungen in der Aussprache, der Aufbau von Wortschatz, und auch die Sensibilisierung für mögliche kulturell unterschiedliche Kommunikationsformen oder das Training kommunikativer Kompetenz. Eine wichtige Hilfe bei der muttersprachlichen wie der fremdsprachlichen Sprachverarbeitung bieten Mittel, mit denen sprachliche Information gegliedert wird, um sie verständlich zu machen. Die Informationsstruktur ermöglicht es, zum Beispiel den Fokus einer Äußerung zu markieren und damit Intentionen sprachlich zu vermitteln. In gesprochener Sprache sind es vor allem prosodische Mittel wie Satzakzent, die es dem Hörer ermöglichen, die wichtigen Informationen in der Äußerung herauszufinden. Aber auch durch die Verwendung unterschiedlicher grammatischer Strukturen oder durch besondere Wortwahl können Sprecher Satzteile markieren, die sie für besonders wichtig halten, und sie damit hervorheben. Wird die Informationsstruktur eines Satzes verletzt, indem zum Beispiel der Satzakzent auf ein eher unwichtiges Wort gelegt wird, kann der Gesprächspartner/die Gesprächspartnerin einen anderen Teil des Satzes als im Fokus stehend interpretieren als den vom Sprecher eigentlich intendierten Teil. Dies kann - in Kombination mit anderen Faktoren wie ungeschickter Wortwahl - zu Missverständnissen führen. Nun kann eine Sprache prosodische, syntaktische oder lexikalische Möglichkeiten der Markierung besitzen, die entweder in einer anderen Sprache nicht vorkommen, oder die andere Funktionen in Bezug auf die Interpretation von Äußerungen erfüllen, die in dieser Form in der jeweils anderen Sprache nicht existieren. Dies betrifft zum Beispiel Unterschiede zwischen Intonations- und Tonsprachen oder zwischen silbenzählenden und akzentzählenden Sprachen. Ruft der Fremdsprachenlerner die Strukturen sprachlicher Information in der Muttersprache (L1) ab und überträgt sie auf die Fremdsprache, kann dies bei gleicher informationsstruktureller Organisation der Sprache zu einer erfolgreichen Strategie des fremdsprachlichen Verstehens führen. Wird aber Informationsstruktur in der Fremdsprache mit anderen Mitteln als in der Muttersprache ausgedrückt, entsteht ein Spannungsfeld zwischen Verarbeitungsstrategien der Muttersprache und denen der Fremdsprache. Die vorliegende Arbeit befasst sich mit der Rolle informationsstruktureller Parameter in der muttersprachlichen und fremdsprachlichen Sprachverarbeitung. Es wird untersucht, wie Fremdsprachenlerner Fokusmarkierung in der Muttersprache (hier: Deutsch) und in der Fremdsprache (hier: Englisch) zu effizienter Sprachverarbeitung nutzen. Das Ziel ist eine tiefere Einsicht, wie sich Informationsstruktur in der Fremdsprache erschließt; die grundlegende Annahme ist dabei, dass ein Verständnis und eine Sensibilisierung für Informationsstruktur dem Fremdsprachenlerner hilft, Form und Bedeutung von Sprache zu erkennen. Eine solche Einsicht in Informationsstruktur unterstützt die Erweiterung und Festigung fremdsprachlicher Kompetenz. Die Frage nach dem Gebrauch von Informationsstruktur in einer Fremdsprache wird in drei experimentellen Studien untersucht, die sich auf jeweils eines der folgenden sprachlichen Mittel zur Fokusmarkierung konzentrieren: 1. Prosodische Mittel der Fokusmarkierung: Unterstützen Satzakzent und Wortposition im Satz eine bessere Worterkennung? 2. Syntaktische Mittel der Fokusmarkierung: Ermöglicht die Konstruktion eines Spaltsatzes (Englisch: cleft) eine schnellere Verarbeitung des fokussierten Elements im Satz als eine kanonische Wortstellung, und kann sich der Hörer auch zu einem späteren Zeitpunkt noch besser an ein syntaktisch markiertes als an ein unmarkiertes Element erinnern? 3. Lexikalische Mittel der Fokusmarkierung: Bewirken Fokuspartikel (hier: nur/sogar) eine schnellere Verarbeitung des fokussierten Elements, und kann sich der Hörer auch zu einem späteren Zeitpunkt noch besser an das fokussierte als an das nicht-fokussierte Element erinnern? Zusätzlich wird in Experiment 2 und in Experiment 3 untersucht, welchen Einfluss einleitende Fragen haben, die zur Fokusmarkierung eines Elements im Folgesatz dienen. Außerdem wird nachgegangen, welche Rolle es spielt, wenn ein syntaktisch oder lexikalisch fokussiertes Element einen Tonhöheakzent bekommt oder wenn dieser auf dem vorangegangenen Adjektiv realisiert wird. Die Probanden sind deutsche Muttersprachler, die Englisch als Fremdsprache gelernt haben. In den Experimenten werden den Testpersonen jeweils Sprachaufnahmen von deutschen Sätzen und Aufnahmen von parallel dazu konstruierten englischen Sätzen dargeboten. Als Kontrollgruppe für den englischen Teil der Experimente werden englische Muttersprachler getestet, um Referenzdaten für die Ergebnisse der Fremdsprachenlerner zu erhalten. Die Experimente sind als Perzeptionsexperimente konzipiert. Experiment 1 (prosodische Fokusmarkierung) untersucht Worterkennung in drei Bedingungen mitunterschiedlichem Fokus (weiter und enger Fokus, enger Fokus auf anderem Satzelement als dem Zielwort), und zwei Bedingungen mit künstlich durch splicing verändertem Sprachmaterial. In Experiment 2 (syntaktische Fokusmarkierung) und Experiment 3 (lexikalische Fokusmarkierung) wird im Hörexperiment als Methode phoneme monitoring angewandt, wobei die Reaktionszeiten zum Erkennen des fokussierten Worts (welches ein vorher spezifiziertes Phonem enthält) gemessen werden. Im Anschluss an den Hörteil wird in diesen zwei Experimenten außerdem ein Erinnerungstest durchgeführt, bei dem die fokussierten Elemente mit einem Multiple-Choice-Verfahren (4AFC) noch einmal abgefragt werden und die Anzahl der richtigen Antworten gewertet wird. Zu 1.: Prosodische Mittel der Fokusmarkierung Akzentuierung ist ein Mittel, um im Satz wichtige Information hervorzuheben (Bolinger, 1972), was zu einer besseren Wahrnehmung solch akzentuierter Information führt (siehe z.B. van Santen & Olive, 1990; Eefting, 1991). Akzentstruktur scheint jedoch schneller in der L1 als in der L2 verarbeitet zu werden (Akker & Cutler, 2003). Es wird daher angenommen, dass in der L1 eine Fokusmarkierung durch Tonhöheakzent zu besserer Worterkennung eines solchermaßen markierten Wortes führt. Akzentstruktur sollte sich auch in der L2 erschließen, wenn auch in geringerem Maß (L1 > L2). Insgesamt wird ein unterschiedlich starker Fokuseffekt je nach Fokusbedingung erwartet (enger Fokus > weiter Fokus). Die Ergebnisse von Experiment 1 bestätigen, dass Worte in der Muttersprache besser erkannt werden als in der Fremdsprache. Ein unterschiedlicher, als Satzakzent realisierter Fokus hilft allerdings den Probanden weder in der Muttersprache noch in der Fremdssprache, fokussierte Worte schneller zu erkennen. Dies könnte auf ungenügende akustische Unterschiede in der Realisierung der unterschiedlichen Fokuskonditionen in den Sprachaufnahmen zurückzuführen sein. Die Experimente mit synthetisch, durch splicing manipuliertem Sprachmaterial ergeben, dass die umgebende Satzprosodie eher zur Worterkennung beiträgt als die einzelne Akzentmarkierung des Wortes (Cutler, 1976). Für die Salienz der Wortposition im Satz postulierte VanPatten (2004) für fremdsprachliche Wahrnehmung die Reihenfolge von initialer > finaler > medialer Position. Akker und Cutler (2003) erwähnen für L1 und L2 einen Verarbeitungsvorteil von später im Satz auftretenden Worten gegenüber früher Auftretenden. Des weiteren fand Rast (2003) in einer L2-Produktionsstudie einen Vorteil der äußeren Satzpositionen gegenüber der medialen Position. Im vorliegenden Experiment werden die Sätze vor allem wegen der fremdsprachlichen Testbedingung in akzeptabler Länge gehalten, was Aussagen über die Position an den äußeren Satzenden ermöglicht, aber weniger deutliche Effekte für die medial Position erwarten lässt. Wortlänge wurde als Nebenfaktor mit in das Experiment aufgenommen ohne eigenständige Hypothesen dafür zu formulieren. In einer früheren L2 Studie zeigte Wortlänge nur in Abhängigkeit zur Position des Wortes im Satz einen Effekt (Rast, 2003; Rast & Dommergues, 2003). Die Ergebnisse von Experiment 1 zeigen, dass die Länge der Zielworte keine entscheidende Rolle für deren korrekte Erkennung spielt. Die Wortposition im Satz, und hier besonders die finale Position, trägt jedoch entscheidend zur korrekten Worterkennung im Deutschen bei. Ein ähnlicher Trend zeigt sich für die Worterkennung in der Fremdsprache Englisch (siehe Klein, 1984; Slobin, 1985). Das Lokalitätsprinzip von VanPatten (2004) mit dem Verarbeitungsvorteil von initial > final > medial kann nicht bestätigt werden, und die besondere Salienz der finalen Position wird mit Murdock (1962) als recency effect erklärt. Außerdem könnte die finale Position von der Konvention für die Integration neuer Information profitieren: bekannte Information wird vor neuer Information genannt (Haviland & Clark, 1974). Hörer handeln nach dieser üblichen Diskursstruktur und richten ihre Aufmerksamkeit auf Information, die in finaler Position genannt wird. Zu 2.: Syntaktische Mittel der Fokusmarkierung Die Abweichung von kanonischer Satzstruktur lenkt die Aufmerksamkeit auf bestimmte Elemente im Satz, und der Spaltsatz ist in vielen Sprachen eine bekannte Art der Fokussierung (Lambrecht, 2001). Die Oberflächenstruktur eines Satzes beeinflusst seine Verarbeitung (Foss & Lynch, 1969; Langford & Holmes, 1979) und in Experiment 2 stehen zwei Hypothesen gegenüber: Der fokussierende Effekt von Spaltsätzen könnte einen Verarbeitungsvorteil bewirken. Andererseits sind Spaltsätze im Deutschen seltener und weniger gebräuchlich als im Englischen (Ahlemeyer & Kohlhof, 1999; Doherty, 1999; E. Klein, 1988); die syntaktische Komplexität von Spaltsätzen und die Erfahrung der Muttersprache könnten einem Verarbeitungsvorteil in Deutsch L1 und Englisch L2 entgegenwirken. Die Ergebnisse von Experiment 2 zeigen, dass der Spaltsatz ein effektives Mittel der Fokusmarkierung im Deutschen ist. Dies wird auf die geringe strukturelle Markiertheit des Ersatz-Subjekts ‚es’ zurückgeführt, da es an kanonischer, initialer Stelle steht. Die Prominenz dieses Subjekts setzt das nachfolgende Subjekt-Element in Fokus und verleiht ihm Subjekt-Prominenz. Der verarbeitungsfördernde Effekt von Spaltsätzen wird noch erhöht, wenn Oberflächenstruktur (Spaltsatz) und Satzzusammenhang (Kontext) integriert werden. Der Spaltsatz wird jedoch nicht in der Fremdsprache als ein effektives Mittel der Fokusmarkierung genutzt. Englische Muttersprachler nutzen den Fokuseffekt des Spaltsatzes zur schnellen Worterkennung, aber dieses informationsstrukturelle Mittel der L2 wird nicht von Fremdsprachenlernern erkannt und verwertet. Dies wird als Lernerproblem interpretiert: linguistische Strukturen der Muttersprache werden nicht adäquat nach informationsstrukturellen Prinzipien in der Fremdsprache angewandt. Der Spaltsatz trägt weder im Deutschen noch im Englischen zu einer besseren Erinnerungsleistung bei. Das kann zum einen an der starken phonologischen Ähnlichkeit der im Test angebotenen Antwortoptionen liegen (Conrad & Hull, 1964); zum anderen kann es mit der Zeitspanne zusammenhängen, die zwischen Hörexperiment und Erinnerungstest liegen und die die Erinnerung an ein bestimmtes Wort zu sehr erschwert (Birch & Garnsey, 1995; McCoon et.al., 1993). Zu 3.: Lexikalische Mittel der Fokusmarkierung Fokuspartikel sind Exponenten von Fokusstruktur und sie markieren Satzelemente (König, 1991; Paterson et al., 1999). Die untersuchten Fokuspartikel evozieren Kontrast und Alternativmengen zu dem fokussierten Element, was Interpretationen von Kontext bewirkt (Ni et al., 1996; Liversedge et al., 2002). Von daher wird keine schnellere Verarbeitung von fokussierten Worten erwartet. Ihre förderliche Eigenschaft zeigt sich jedoch in der Erinnerungsleistung, da sich dieser Prozess auf andere Erschließungsmechanismen zu stützen scheint: es wird erwartet, dass der bevorzugte Gebrauch von lexikalischen Mitteln zur Fokusmarkierung im Deutschen (König, 1991; Ahlemeyer & Kohlhof, 1999) sich positiv auf die Erinnerung von fokussierten Worten auswirkt. Die Fokuspartikel nur und sogar in Experiment 3 erweisen sich in der Experimentreihe als schwächste Exponenten von Fokusmarkierung: Weder im Deutschen noch in Englischen als Fremdsprache noch in der englischen Kontrollgruppe bewirken diese Fokuspartikel eine schnellere Verarbeitung des fokussierten Elements. Dies erklärt sich durch die Eigenschaft von Fokuspartikeln, eine Menge an Alternativen zu evozieren und dadurch beim Hörer komplexe Diskursmodelle anzuregen, die sowohl das Element in Fokus als auch Alternativen dazu beinhalten (siehe Ni et al., 1996; Liversedge et al., 2002). Verarbeitung und Interpretation der Fokusstruktur benötigen dann einen erhöhten Zeitaufwand. Im Erinnerungstest kommt der Fokuseffekt nur in der fremdsprachlichen Testbedingung zum Tragen: Werden Lerner hinsichtlich mit hinsichtlich ihrer L2-Fertigkeit anspruchsvollen Situationen konfrontiert, wird Fokusstruktur zu einer besseren Repräsentation in der Erinnerung genutzt. Übergreifend zeigt sich aus Experiment 2 und Experiment 3, dass ein zusätzlicher Satzakzent in Sätzen mit syntaktischer oder lexikalischer Fokusmarkierung in muttersprachlichem Deutsch und Englisch genutzt wird, aber in der Fremdsprache nicht gleichermaßen effektiv verarbeitet wird. Ein bedeutender Parameter wie Tonhöheakzent wird in der Fremdsprache scheinbar weniger genutzt, wenn gleichzeitig andere Mittel der Markierung auftreten. Vor allem deutet dieser Effekt jedoch auf eine weitaus differenziertere Wahrnehmung und Interpretation von Tonhöheakzent in der Muttersprache hin. Des weiteren scheint die Reihenfolge, in der die Testsprachen den Probanden angeboten werden (L1-L2,oder L2-L1) von Bedeutung zu sein, da ein Lerneffekt aus der ersten Testsprache die Leistung in der zweiten Testsprache beeinflussen kann. Dies erschwert die Erhebung vergleichbarer Daten für zwei Sprachen von derselben Probandengruppe (siehe Akker & Cutler, 2003). Im Hinblick auf die Auswirkungen von Kontext auf die Wortverarbeitung weisen die Ergebnisse darauf hin, dass vorangestellte Fragen dem Fremdsprachenlerner nur bedingt Hilfe bei der zügigen Verarbeitung von z.B. schwierigeren Satzkonstruktionen bieten. Zusätzlicher Kontext scheint außerdem die Erinnerungsleistung zu erschweren, vor allem in der Fremdsprache. Sowohl in der Fremdsprachenforschung als auch in der Fremdsprachendidaktik hat die Einbettung in einen Kontext bei dem Erlernen von Worten eine große Bedeutung (Lawson & Hogben, 1996). Es wird dahingehend argumentiert, dass eine Form von Kontext, die mehr semantische, prosodische oder lexikalische Verbindungen schafft, den zusätzlichen Verarbeitungsaufwand kompensieren müsste. Die Ergebnisse der vorliegenden Arbeit weisen darauf hin, dass sich Informationsstruktur eher in der Muttersprache als in der Fremdsprache erschließt. Einzelne informationsstrukturelle Parameter werden jedoch sehr wohl von den Fremdsprachenlernern erfolgreich ausgewertet, was sich in einer schnelleren und nachhaltigeren sprachlichen Verarbeitung äußert. Auf der kognitiven Ebene zeigt die vorliegende Arbeit die vorteilhafte Wirkung auf, wenn Informationsstruktur von Mutter- und Fremdsprache in dynamischem Austausch stehen. Die Ergebnisse bestärken die Annahme, dass ein Verständnis von Informationsstruktur dem Fremdsprachenlerner helfen kann, Form und Bedeutung der Fremdsprache zu erkennen. Informationsstruktur erweist sich als potentiell wertvolle Ressource in der Entwicklung und Stärkung fremdsprachlicher Kompetenz.

In this empirical study, the aim is to investigate how and why teachers in five elementary classes in Sweden use the target language and first language respectively in the EFL classroom. In addition to investigating the teacher perspective, pupils are also asked how they perceive their English teacher’s choice of spoken language in the EFL classroom. The study has a theoretical base in Krashen’s (1982) Second Language Acquisition Theory, as well as previous research on teachers’ language use in the EFL classroom. The study revealed that the participating teachers use the target language mainly to instruct, and to encourage their pupils to produce English themselves. The study also showed that the first language is used to aid comprehension and to explain when the pupils do not seem to understand what is said in English. Furthermore, some of the participating teachers expressed a desire to use more target language in their teaching, while feeling obligated to speak Swedish to make sure all pupils understand. The results of the study also show that participating pupils find English in general to be both easy and fun, in one or several aspects, and that most of the pupils in the study appreciate their teacher using the target language during English lessons. Another conclusion that can be drawn is that more research is needed regarding how teachers’ linguistic choices actually affect pupils’ communicative proficiency in the English language.

Engelska

This project arises from recent initiatives aimed at transforming Shakespeare studies in South African high schools, so as to make those studies more learner-centred and interactive, as well as a more useful communicative language-learning experience for second-language (L2) students. It is this interactive methodology that the present project seeks to extend to the relatively neglected area of Shakespeare's figurative language. Drawing on schema theory and response-based approaches to literature teaching, the project shows that figurative language is especially conducive to interactive treatment, whereby students might be encouraged to make sense of metaphors and similes out of their "background knowledge". Guidelines are indicated for putting this into practice in the L2 classroom; and on the basis of these guidelines, materials are developed for an interactive approach to Shakespeare's figurative language. The central phase in this development process involves trying out the materials in five African high schools and then analysing the data collected from them. The classroom try-outs were profitable in so far as they raised issues that had been overlooked in the earlier, theoretical, stage of the development process. A good overall response to the materials' learner-centred approach was indicated, although students experienced difficulties with certain essential tasks. Most seriously, while the materials were successful in accessing students' background knowledge in the form of associations, they were less successful in getting students to use this knowiedge in interpreting metaphors for themselves. Reasons for this feature, and others, are considered and solutions posited. Recommendations for implementing the materials in a larger teaching programme are made.

This multiple case study examined the experiences of elementary L2 learners who received instruction in either reciprocal teaching or the think aloud strategy (TAS), and identified patterns of use that emerged from participants' employment of the strategies. The three L2 participants took a pre- test and a posttest, were recorded using the strategies, and responded to interview questions about the strategies. Using qualitative data analysis techniques, four themes emerged from analysis of the data, including; talking like a teacher, I know what I know, established strategies, and declines to use the steps in the strategy. Implications from these findings suggest that the discussion facilitated by reciprocal teaching assists elementary L2 participants in better understanding the text and also supports their language acquisition, whereas TAS does not facilitate discussion. Further, even though reciprocal teaching promotes discussion, teacher assistance during discussion is necessary. Finally, it is essential that teachers are mindful of students' understandings of topics and the difficulty of texts used when students are learning the strategies.

Although there have been a large number of studies on the use of L1 and L2, there seem to be few on L1 use in Chinese university EFL classrooms, especially investigating the language use of those who teach English to students at different proficiency levels or teach different types of English courses. This thesis aims to analyze four Chinese EFL teachers’ actual use of L1 and L2, to understand their attitudes and beliefs regarding this issue, and their own perceptions of and reasons for their language use, and to explore possible influencing factors. The reading-and-writing lessons and the listening-and-speaking lessons of these four teachers, who were teaching non-English major students at four different levels, were observed and recorded. All the observed lessons were subjected to quantitative analysis with the aim of providing a clear picture of the distribution of their L1 and L2 use. Some episodes selected from these lessons were subjected to further detailed analysis, in order to provide an account of the circumstances, functions, and grammatical patterns of their language use, as well as their language use across different frames of classroom discourse. The teachers were interviewed subsequently about their general beliefs on the use of L1 in L2 teaching and learning. Separately, in a stimulated recall interview, they were invited to provide comments specifically on their language use in the selected episodes that were replayed to them. The quantitative findings show that the amount of the teachers’ L1 use was not necessarily closely related to their students’ English proficiency levels, although the teacher of the students at the lowest level used the highest amount of Chinese in her lessons. However, a noteworthy finding was that all four teachers used more Chinese in the reading-and-writing lessons than in the listening-and-speaking lessons, although with substantial individual variation. The qualitative analysis of classroom data indicates that these teachers switched often at unit boundaries, but rarely at clause boundaries. They also switched frequently within units, especially within noun phrases, and the ‘Chinese determiner + English noun’ pattern is the main one they had in common. Furthermore, the teachers used Chinese as the matrix language in their mixed utterances in most cases, and these mixed utterances nearly always fitted Myers-Scotton’s Morpheme Order principle and System Morpheme principle. The teachers were also found to use Chinese in a variety of circumstances, such as talking about lesson plans or examinations, dealing with exercises, analyzing text, teaching vocabulary, checking the students’ comprehension or retention, giving the students advice on learning, telling anecdotes and assigning homework. The functions for which they used Chinese could be divided into four main categories: facilitating developing lesson content; supporting students and carrying out classroom management; delivering information related to teaching agenda or examinations; and facilitating communication beyond language learning and teaching. The most frequent function common to all four teachers was translation. Furthermore, the study used four different ‘frames’ to analyze classroom discourse, and found that the teachers used the L1 with varying frequency across these frames. Moreover, although all four teachers believed that using the L1 was beneficial to L2 learning, their attitudes towards the medium of instruction were different. While two advocated using the L1, the other two expressed a preference for speaking English-only and perceived their L1 use as a compromise or an expedient. The teachers reported many reasons for their L1 use. The factors that affected their language use consisted of both immediate classroom factors, such as functions of utterances, students’ language use, students’ perceived mood, students’ background knowledge, the difficulty of lesson content, time limitations, teachers’ awareness of their own L1 use, and teachers’ state of mind at a particular moment in a lesson, and relatively static factors, such as the university policy, students’ L2 abilities, teaching objectives, teachers’ beliefs regarding L1 use, and teachers’ L2 abilities. Through its detailed analysis of the teachers’ language use, as well as their relevant beliefs and decision-making, this thesis hopes to make a contribution to L2 teachers’ professional development and L2 teaching, especially in helping to establish a pedagogically principled approach to L1 and L2 use.

CITE/Language Arts
Ed.D.
This study was an examination of peer review use in English composition courses at a Japanese university. Approximately 100 students in four writing classes engaged in four modes of peer review modes: face-to-face, handwritten (both on-draft and using an evaluation sheet), and computer-assisted. The learners in the study represented a range of proficiencies, from lower-intermediate to advanced, so the assigned writing passages were limited to single paragraphs rather than full-length essays, which has typically been the case in prior research in this area. Each peer review session was preceded by training in peer review, including modeling and whole-class editing, as well as suggestions for each particular mode the learners participated in. After each session, students completed questionnaires in order to assess their evaluations of the activities, both as reviewers and comment receivers. The questionnaire data were then analyzed using a variety of statistical methods--including Rasch analysis descriptive statistics, and parametric and non-parametric measures--first to validate the questionnaire instrument, and second to ascertain the degree to which each peer review modes was viewed favorably or unfavorably received by the participants. Additionally, the participants' written drafts and peer comments were quantitatively and qualitatively analyzed in order to answer several research questions that focused on: the number and type of peer suggestions the learners made in each mode, the number and type of suggestions that were incorporated into later drafts by the authors, the degree to which suggestions and revisions were affected by learner proficiency, and the accuracy of the peer suggestions. For the research questions concerned with learner evaluations of the peer review modes, findings were mixed. The participants responded favorably to reading others' drafts and receiving comments, but they were less comfortable reviewing and making suggestions for their peers. Computer-assisted peer review was the most positively received overall, particularly from those in the High Proficiency Group. Person measures for Low Proficiency learners, on the other hand, were generally higher for on-draft peer review, while those for Intermediate Proficiency participants tended not to indicate strong endorsement for any particular mode. In order to answer the next set of research questions, the participants' drafts and peer suggestions were analyzed. Most of the learners' suggestions, particularly for those in the Low Proficiency Group, tended to be local in nature, concerning such areas as word choice, grammar, and mechanics; fewer suggestions were made at the sentence- or whole-text-level. In terms of incorporation of suggestion by authors into later drafts, oral peer review led to the highest rate of suggested revisions while review using an evaluation sheet of guided questions resulted in the lowest rate. Learner proficiency did not have a significant bearing on suggestions or revisions, except in the case of the High Proficiency Group, whose members made significantly more suggestions during computer-assisted peer review than during the other modes. Finally, over 73% of peer suggestions were determined to be accurate across all four modes. These findings indicate that peer review can work on even the most limited of scales with learners of even modest language proficiency. No single mode of peer review succeeded in all areas, and instructors are encouraged to blend different modes if possible. However, if a single mode is preferred or required, computer-assisted review is strong choice.
Temple University--Theses

ABSTRACT: Puns are short humorous texts that play on structural ambiguity in order to create incongruous scripts. The perception of their humour requires considerable pragmatic manipulation, which may present problems for L2 learners, which is why many scholars agree that they are best reserved for more advanced students. Using a combination of Quantitative and Qualitative analysis of data yielded from a survey containing puns and referential jokes, this study confirms that humour through puns is largely inaccessible to Swedish High School learners of English, with ambiguity being the main obstacle across the test groups. However, since language play has been proven to be facilitative to language learning, and since students themselves express a wish to be able to participate in humorous interaction, learners may well benefit from working with puns and language play in the classroom in order to gain greater linguistic abilities and well-rounded communicative competence.

Research within the field of serious games shows that games and simulations can supplement traditional learning methods in a positive way. Modern technology allows for simulations of real situations thus allowing for improved vocabulary training. This paper focusses on ESL (English as a second language training) for adult learners and looks at how a prototype set of minigames could be used to enhance learning outcomes in a specific set of vocabulary. The paper looks at a case study carried out by the researcher in Plymouth in the UK at an ESL training centre. Results from this sample showed that this method of using games is viable, however not that much of an improvement on traditional methods.

This project sought to find a rigorous and manageable method for measuring the difficulty of texts in te reo Māori written for children, beyond junior reading material in Māori-medium educational settings. The project examined a range of readability measures based on semantic and/or syntactic features of text, following the work of Warwick Elley (1969) and Richard Benton et al. (1995). Features such as the difficulty of content words, average sentence length, standardised type:token ratios and the use of function words were used in different combinations to create seven methods to measure text difficulty. Teachers’ and students’ ratings of text difficulty, and students’ scores on reading comprehension tasks related to the texts were used as criteria to examine the validity of the readability methods. The findings revealed that indices of either vocabulary load or lexical density when used in combination with the number of function types in the text, produce statistical significance with the criterion measures. Further research is needed to confirm their validity for use in Māori –medium classroom settings. The Māori word lists developed for this project as the basis of the readability approaches have the potential for more widespread analyses of language proficiency measures for students in Māori-medium settings.

After recognizing the need for a simpler approach to the teaching of mathematical terminology, I concluded it would be valuable to make a unit of simplified terms and describe methods of teaching these terms. In this thesis I have compared the terminology found in the Virginia Standards of Learning objectives to the materials found at each grade level. The units developed are as follows: The Primary Persistence Unit- for grades K-2; The Elementary Expansion Unit- for grades 3-5; and The Middle School Mastery Unit- for grades 6-8.

This is a compilation thesis consisting of three different articles with the purpose to explore the relationships between language practices, identity construction and learning in the context of the Vehicle Program, a vocational program in Swedish upper secondary schools. A feature of the particular setting studied here that sets it apart from the general education of auto mechanics in Sweden is that it was carried out in English. The study focuses on language practices within a community of practice where the norms for second language use, gender arrangements and identity work are negotiated in conversations between students and between students and teachers. The language practices are considered as talk-in-interaction, and identity construction and learning are understood as processes in socially situated activities. The study was conducted through an ethnographic approach, including observation, field notes, approximately 200 hours of video recorded interactions, and interviews with students and teachers. The recorded interactions were analysed using tools from conversational analysis and methods focusing on linguistic activities and interactional patterns. An eclectic approach combining linguistic ethnography, ethnometodological conversation analysis and socio-cultural theory of learning, in particular the concept of communities of practice, form the basis of the theoretical framework. The findings in study I highlight that language alternations are repeatedly used in the workshop as a meta-language to play around with language, which relates to emerging communicative strategies that also produces – and helps contest – local language norms. Study III suggests that teasing in students’ peer relations are not only disruptive, off-task behavior, thereby rendering them important only from a classroom management perspective. Teasing, this study proposes, should rather be seen as an organizing principle by which the students are able to position themselves in relation to an institutionally established language ideology. Study II focuses on how participants invoke and renegotiate conventional forms of masculinity tied to the ability of handling tools. Such micro-processes illuminate how gender is a constantly shifting social category that is done, redone and possibly undone. The findings suggest that new forms of auto mechanic student identities are formed that challenge current dominant discourses about what a mechanic should be.

This essay attempts to investigate the use of lexical chunks in an empirical way. It tries to probe into the possible relationship between L2 learners competence of lexical chunks and their language production through analysing results from a multiple-choice chunk test and a writing test.

This study attempts to outline the exposure to English language students between the ages of 14 and 16 experience in Swedish schools. Due to the relatively small scope of our study we have limited our parameters and concentrated on two schools with predominantly Swedish pupils. The aim was to establish the nature of English influence on teenagers in Swedish schools and then to examine whether this naturally occurring acquisition of knowledge is utilized in the more formal language learning environment of the classroom.We used a survey to get an overview of our topic and to help us establish patterns and trends of English language exposure amongst our target students. In order to further analyze our topic we conducted two group interviews.Our research shows that English has a great influence on Swedish children though perhaps not as much as we had first anticipated. While receptive acquisition is high, chances to actively produce the language remain low. It is also noted that while different types of English media is in fact utilized in the classroom, it may not be relevant or interesting to the students.

In our ever more international world, the English language plays an important role. This is

also reflected in its prominent position as a core subject in the Swedish school system. It is

therefore important that English teachers offer students an environment in which they have

the best possible opportunities to be successful in reaching the goals specified in the

syllabuses. One variable in a successful foreign language classroom is the teacher's usage

ofthe target language.

This study is about English teachers' views on the issue of target language usage in the

classroom, versus usage of the mother tongue. In this study, at Upper Secondary level, the

interviews show that the teachers are, more or less, in agreement that the target language

should be used all the time in the classroom. There are, however, occasions in which the

interviewed teachers do not work according to their own beliefs and methods and revert to

using Swedish. The main such occasions can briefly be said to be: explanation of grammar,

non-subject related "mentor's issues" and classroom management issues. In addition, this

study argues that the governing documents, previous research, as well as well-known

theories on the subject support a high usage of the target language by the teacher.

PONTIFÍCIA UNIVERSIDADE CATÓLICA DO RIO DE JANEIRO
COORDENAÇÃO DE APERFEIÇOAMENTO DO PESSOAL DE ENSINO SUPERIOR
Esta pesquisa de caráter qualitativo, interpretativo e naturalista, realizada em sala de aula e orientada pelos princípios da Prática Exploratória (Allwright e Miller, 2001; Allwright, 2003), se define como trabalho-para-entendimento. Trata-se de um trabalho conjunto feito por professor e alunos do oitavo ano do Ensino Fundamental visando promover a reflexão acerca da condição em que os praticantes das atividades de ensino-aprendizagem se encontram com o intuito de obter um melhor entendimento a respeito da condição do uso do livro didático de inglês na sala de aula por meio de atividades pedagógicas com potencial exploratório e, consequentemente, uma melhoria da qualidade de vida. As produções dos alunos geradas nessas atividades foram analisadas apoiando-se em conceitos sobre a interação em sala de aula (van Lier, 1988; Vygotsky, 1978; Allwright e Bailey, 2004), a qualidade de vida (Gieve e Miller, 2006), o livro didático (Souza, 1999) e as crenças (Araújo, 2006; Barcelos, 2004; Richards e Lockhart, 1994). Os entendimentos atingidos demonstram que os alunos reconhecem o livro como uma oportunidade de aprendizagem desde que exista ambiente apropriado. Além disso, há uma evidente preocupação com o professor. A constatação desses fatos fez com que eles se tornassem mais conscientes da realidade que vivemos. Foi possível também notar a presença dos princípios da Prática Exploratória em meio às produções realizadas pelos alunos.
This qualitative, interpretive and naturalistic classroom research was oriented by the principles of Exploratory Practice (Allwright & Miller, 2001; Allwright, 2003) and conceptualized as work for understanding. Such collective work was performed by a teacher and his students from the 7th grade, as a way of promoting practitioner reflection on the use of the English language textbook in their classroom. Achieving better understanding – and following from that, an improvement of the quality of classroom life – by fostering that reflection through potentially exploitable pedagogic activities and improving the quality of classroom life is the purpose of this study. The results of the activities performed by the students were analyzed based on notions related to classroom interaction (van Lier, 1988; Vygotsky, 1978; Allwright and Bailey, 2004), quality of classroom life (Gieve & Miller, 2006), the textbook (Souza, 1999) and beliefs (Araújo, 2006; Barcelos, 2004; Richards & Lockhart, 1994). The understandings reached by the teacher-researcher show that the students see the book as a learning opportunity only if there is an appropriate working atmosphere in the classroom. The students’ discourse uncovers an explicit concern with the teacher and has helped us become more aware of the classroom lives that we lead together and of our pedagogic work with the book. The principles of Exploratory Practice resonate in the students’ productions.

Oftentimes it is the foreign language classroom that provides the basic foundation for language exposure and acquisition. In the context of the foreign language classroom there is not much exposure to the TL outside of this setting. This being the case, the quantity of the TL should be relatively high as it is an essential requisite for language acquisition. In addition, most recent research tends to suggest that high quantities of TL from the instructor is ideal. The main purpose of this study has been to focus on university-level foreign language classrooms to explore the issue of language choice, Ll or TL, among instructors. Over a ten week period, six languages were observed and audiotaped on five separate occasions. The study asked the following questions: 1) If Ll (English) is used in university-level foreign language classrooms, what is the ratio of Ll to TL?; 2) For what purposes is the Ll used?; 3) What are teachers' and students' perceptions and attitudes regarding use of the Ll in the foreign language classroom? A categorization grid was created to answer the second research question. A student questionnaire and teacher interview were administered to answer the third research question. The results were analyzed using descriptive statistics. It was found that three out of the six languages used the Ll an average of 10% or less of the time, while the remaining three languages used the Ll for an average of 13% or more of the time. In regard to the second research question, four out of the six languages used the Ll most frequently for the purposes of language analysis and vocabulary translation. This investigation has attempted to explore and discuss practices within some foreign language classrooms at the university-level and to create greater awareness of those practices.

This research was conducted to investigate foreign language classroom anxiety (FLCA) among Japanese college students taking English as a foreign language (EFL), focusing mainly on the relationship between FLCA and first language (L1) use in English task-based classes. Factors possibly affecting FLCA, such as gender, proficiency level, enthusiasm, self-confidence, and teacher-type preference, were also investigated to obtain a holistic picture. A cross-sectional research design with a mixed-methods approach (questionnaires, classroom observations and interviews) was adopted. Japanese EFL college students were found to have various degrees of FLCA. Overall, students with the highest anxiety levels were females (who felt stronger self-consciousness and peer pressure), beginners, and those who had poorer comprehension, showed less enthusiasm, studied less at home, spoke less English outside class, had lower self-confidence, took fewer risks, exhibited a higher desire to use Japanese in class, and preferred bilingual Japanese-native teachers (BJNT). However, even students who were enthusiastic about studying English sometimes had higher anxiety, which was considered to be facilitative in nature on the basis of the existing literature. Beginners wanted to use more L1 than advanced-level students for clarification, but advanced-level students also needed L1 for understanding difficult materials. Higher enthusiasm was important for reducing anxiety and increasing self-confidence. Interestingly, although higher self-confidence was important for reducing anxiety, higher proficiency, rather than higher self-confidence, affected the amount of L1 use by students. The finding that the more English students spoke outside class, the less anxious they became suggests that students need more practice speaking TL to decrease their anxiety. However, even students with higher enthusiasm who took optional classes sometimes wanted to use L1 in class. Qualitative observations lent support to quantitative findings and helped to explain a number of interesting phenomena. The implications and limitations of the study are discussed, together with suggestions for further research.

The main purpose of this study is to explore the effects of the use of games as a teaching strategy for raising the grammatical accuracy level of secondary students of German as a second language. This thesis seeks also to examine the effect of game-based grammar instruction on students’ motivation and classroom atmosphere. The participants in this study were divided into two groups, the Control and Experimental groups, and received 90 periods, over 18 weeks, of grammatical instruction by the same teacher. The teaching program was the same for both groups. The difference consisted in the use of game-based practice for the experimental group, while the control group performed traditional grammar-based practice only. Data were collected using the following instruments: grammar tests and examinations,a questionnaire on motivation, a questionnaire on classroom atmosphere, a questionnaire on the type of grammar practice, a questionnaire on the role of grammar and grammar instruction, focus group interviews with students, and the researcher’s field notes. While the main result does not support the hypothesis for significant improvement in grammatical accuracy by the experimental students as a result of game-based practice, their overall improved performance is a worthwhile achievement, particularly if it is linked to significant improvements in students’ motivation and classroom atmosphere.These positive results offer a notable incentive to language teachers to include games in their teaching of grammatical features, because the positive results of this experiment with regard to learners’ motivation, peer interaction, teacher-student interaction augur well for an eventual improvement also in the rate of grammatical accuracy.

Society changed when it entered the 21st century when technological gadgets like the computer and tablets made our society technologically dependent. The aim of this study is to examine Swedish Secondary and Upper Secondary English teachers’ attitudes towards computer use in the English classroom. The study was carried out by using a qualitative method: semi-structured interviews. A total of 17 teachers offered their thoughts on the subject. The results show that there are both differences and similarities between the Secondary school teachers and Upper Secondary School teachers. The Upper Secondary teachers have a much more positive attitude compared to the Secondary school teachers who have a more neutral attitude. The Upper Secondary School teachers are more positive because of the 1:1 initiative while the Secondary School teachers more neutral as a result of the limited computer supply, which was problematic whenever they have classes that are larger than the amount of computers available at hand.
Samhället förändrades vid sekelskiftet när teknologiska verktyg som datorn och surfplattor gjorde samhället mer beroende av teknik. Syftet med denna studie var att ta reda på engelsklärares attityder gentemot datorbruk i det Engelska klassrummet. Studien genomfördes genom att använda en kvalitativ metod: semi-strukturerade intervjuer där totalt 17 lärare intervjuades. Resultaten visar att det finns både likheter och skillnader bland grupperna. Gymnasielärarna har en mer positiv attityd gentemot datorbruk i jämförelse med grundskolelärarna som var mer neutrala, vilket var ett resultat av att gymnasieskolan har 1:1 medan grundskolan i många fall har ett begränsat antal datorer. Detta sågs som problematiskt av grundskolelärarna då dom i många tillfällen hade klasser som var större än mängden datorer tillgängliga.