Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Sociolinguistic competence'

In this field study report, the author investigates behaviour associated with inviting in order to see if there is any effect on the language used across cultures due to factors such as status, age, gender in actual social interactions. Chapter one gives a brief introduction to the important role of the English Language in the world in general, and in Vietnam nowadays in particular, and a review of Teaching Methods which have been used in Vietnam so far. Chapter two will deal with the theoretical background, language competences including linguistic competence, sociolinguistic competence and communicative competence. In addition, speech act theory , face work, distance, power in relation to status, age and gender as well as reviews research on the differences between spoken and written are also discussed. Chapter three defines the structure of an invite with its social and cultural characteristics focussing on the natural structure of a spoken invitation. Chapter four describes research and data analysis of the issuing, accepting and declining of spoken invitations used by Vietnamese speakers of Vietnamese (VSV). Chapter five contains the data analysis of the issuing, accepting and declining of spoken invitations used by Australian speakers of English (ASE). Chapter six discusses the comparison of Vietnamese and Australian spoken invitations, the main difference being found in the use of much more direct forms used in VSV as opposed to more tentative forms preferred by ASEs. Directness of form, however, does not reflect a lack of politeness, which is conveyed to a much larger extent by other prosodic and paralinguistic features. Chapter seven is a brief cross-cultural investigation of the spoken invitations of Vietnamese learners speaking English. This shows up a degree of cross-cultural interference and offers some implications for the classroom. Chapter eight contains a summary and conclusion. The results of the study may suggest that Vietnamese learners of English need to be taught not only linguistic competence but also communicative competence with an emphasis on cultural and social factors. Spoken invitations which really have some function in actual interactions need to be incorporated in the program for teaching spoken English.

The purpose of this paper was to review research within the field of digital games and language learning to explore whether gaming can facilitate communicative competence and foster motivation for language learning. To answer my questions I conducted a research synthesis, compiling a variety of research over the last decade to answer my questions as effectively as possible. Results showed that digital games do in fact facilitate language development and induce motivation. Research also showed that different games provide different opportunities and activities, resulting in some games fostering language competence more than others. For instance, World of Warcraft provided social situations where conversations were erratic, spontaneous, contextual and driven by small events in the game, while The Sims focused more on strategic and creative activities. Additionally, research suggested that digital games motivated learners to develop their L2 language in hope of achieving more goals together within a variety games and game types.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2014.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study focuses on the requestive behaviour, including perceptions of politeness and directness, of Omani second language (L2) English students at Nizwa University in Oman as revealed by their written responses to real life scenarios. The study is an attempt to improve linguistic understanding of pragmatic differences, with reference to the similarities and differences between Omani L2 English students and L1 English speakers’ communicative proficiency, in order to contribute to improved language teaching curricula. The research design consisted of an initial series of two questionnaires which required that the participants rate given responses based on their perceptions of ‘politeness’ and ‘indirectness’; a third discourse completion test (DCT) that required participants to respond in writing in the form of a request to five real life scenarios; and a fourth questionnaire that required teachers to judge the written responses of the DCT according to five criteria. Additionally, the Omani-speaking teachers of L2 English were interviewed and asked questions relating to their responses from a sociopragmatic/ cultural perspective. The Omani teachers’ responses were then used to assist in the analysis of the written response data. The four instruments above thus used both quantitative and qualitative research methods. The results of the data analysis showed that (1) the query preparatory is considered by both groups to be the most polite request strategy and is used to mitigate imposition; (2) Omani L2 English students consider the words should and must to be most impolite in contrast with the L1 English speakers who consider the mood derivable to be the most impolite request strategy; (3) mild hints are considered far more polite by L1 English speakers than by Omani L2 English students; (4) politeness is influenced by differences in perceptions of social variables such as social distance, social power and degree of imposition; (5) direct strategies are not considered impolite and are used six times more frequently by Omani L2 English students than by L1 English speakers in low-imposition contextual situations; and (6) positive transfer and conventionalisation of the time intensifier has been produced and the strategy is used more than twice as much by the Omani L2 English students than by the L1 English speakers. In contrast, the L1 English speakers use the preparator 11 times more frequently than the Omani L2 English students who predominantly have no pragmalinguistic knowledge of this tactic. The study highlights the need for pragmalinguistic and sociopragmatic training of students in the classroom and for pragmatics to be included in the material and curriculum design of English language learning programmes.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie fokus op hoe versoeke, insluitend die persepsies van beleefdheid en direktheid, van tweede taal (T2) Omani studente aan die Universiteit van Nizwa in Oman geformuleer word soos geopenbaar deur hulle skriftelike reaksies op realistiese lewenscenarios tydens vraagstelling. Die studie is ‘n poging om taalkundige begrip van pragmatiese verskille te verbeter, met verwysing na die ooreenkomste en verskille tussen Omani T2 Engelssprekendes en L1 Engelssprekendes se kommunikatiewe vaardighede, ten einde by te dra tot die verbetering van taalonderrig leerplanne. Die navorsing het bestaan uit ‘n aanvanklike reeks van twee vraelyste wat vereis dat deelnemers antwoorde gee op grond van hulle persepsies van beleefdheid en indirektheid; ‘n derde diskoers voltooiings toets (DVT) wat vereis dat deelnemers skriftelik reageer op versoeke in vyf realistiese lewenscenarios; en ‘n vierde vraelys wat vereis dat onderwysers die skriftelike reaksies op die DVT in vyf areas beoordeel. Daarbenewens is die T2 Omani onderwysers ondervra met betrekking tot hulle antwoorde vanuit ‘n sosio-pragmatiese perspektief. Die Omani onderwysers se antwoorde is vervolgens gebruik om die ontleding van die skriftelike response te doen. Die bogenoemde vier instrumente gebruik dus beide kwalitatiewe en kwantitatiewe navorsingsmetodes. Die resultate van die data-analise toon dat (1) die “query preparatory” deur beide groepe as die mees beleefde vraag-strategie beskou word en gebruik word om taakoplegging te versag; (2) T2 sprekers beskou die woorde moet en behoort meestal as onbeskof, in teenstelling met die T1 Engelssprekendes, wat die “mood derivable” as die mees onbeskofte vraag-strategie ervaar; (3) die “mild hint” word as baie meer beleefd deur L1 Engelssprekendes as deur T2-sprekers ervaar; (4) beleefdheid word beinvloed deur verskille in persepsies van sosiale faktore soos sosiale afstand en –druk, en die graad van oplegging; (5) direktheid word nie as onbeskof gesien nie, en kom ses keer meer voor by T2 sprekers in laer taalvaardigheid situasies; en (6) positiewe oordrag en vaslegging van tyd as ‘n drukkrag het voorgekom, en die taktiek word meer as twee keer soveel deur die T2 sprekers as deur die T1 Engelssprekendes gebruik. In teenstelling gebruik die T1 Engelssprekendes die “preparatory” 11 keer meer as die T2 sprekers, wat meestal geen pragma-linguistiese kennis van hierdie tegniek het nie. Die studie beklemtoon die noodsaaklikheid van pragma-linguistiese en sosio-linguistiese opleiding in die klaskamer, en dat pragmatika in materiaal en kurrikulumontwerp vir Engelse taalleer programme ingesluit word.

This data-driven linguistic study investigates if levels of different types of foreign language communication anxiety, such as for speaking, listening, writing and/or reading that Swedish students in compulsory school (grades 7-9) and upper secondary school experience when communicating in English in their foreign language classes have any correlation to sociolinguistic variables such as gender, age, performance and/or multilingual competence. The compiled and analyzed self-report data have successfully provided a base for implied correlations between the different sociolinguistic variables and language anxiety. The most prominent indications of correlation to anxiety are the variables gender, performance (course grades) and linguistic competence. The age variable also showed indications of correlation but was less pronounced than the others. It was also found that students generally feel more and/or higher anxiety when speaking the target language than the other types of communication. The didactic implications that this study contributes to is that “communicating” as an activity conducted in the foreign language classroom needs to be further defined and broken down into specific types of skills (speaking, writing, listening, reading) and also be approached accordingly. This also implies that further research is needed to thoroughly examine the correlational effects different sociolinguistic variables have on the foreign language learning.

Дослідження дискурсу Інтернет реклами є актуальним в аспекті загальних досліджень комунікативних процесів. Дискурс аналіз може бути використаний як структурний інструмент для аналізу текстової організації, так і як етнографічний інструмент для розширення усвідомлення конкретної культури.
Research of Internet advertising is topical in bounds of general investigations into the process of communication. Discourse analysis can be used as a structural instrument for researching textual organization, as well as an ethnographic tool for expanding realization of a concrete culture. One of types of Internet advertising is contextual advertising, which is considered to be one of the most successful types of modern advertising.

Estudos na área de Sociolinguística têm mostrado a complexidade da arquitetura do italiano contemporâneo, composta tanto de variedades linguísticas comuns a todas as línguas naturais, relacionadas às dimensões diamésica, diastrática, diafásica e diatópica, quanto de dialetos e interlínguas. Essa intricada realidade, no entanto, parece não chegar até os aprendizes de italiano, sobretudo, fora da Itália, que, frequentemente, têm a impressão de que essa língua é monolítica e estável. Isso, em geral, se reflete em seu desempenho enquanto falantes, pois, uma vez que acreditam que a língua italiana é imutável e única, não serão capazes de reconhecer as variedades e registros linguísticos produzidos por falantes nativos. Tendo em vista a importância do livro didático como fonte de input linguístico em sala de aula e como norteador da atividade docente e discente, selecionamos os dois livros didáticos mais usados no estado de São Paulo para o ensino do italiano no momento em que se iniciou a pesquisa, e analisamos como e em que medida tais obras expõem o aprendiz às variedades linguísticas do italiano para que desenvolvam competência sociolinguística e, portanto, sensibilidade sobretudo receptiva quanto à realidade linguística italiana. Para isso, analisamos os diálogos, os livros do aluno e os guias do professor das coleções didáticas Linea Diretta e Rete! com base em 67 critérios escolhidos por poderem identificar diferentes variedades do italiano. Os resultados relacionados ao livro Linea diretta permitem dizer que essa coleção aborda implicitamente alguns dos fenômenos considerados, mas que não os explora explicitamente. Por outro lado, Rete! praticamente não insere fenômenos marcados sociolinguisticamente em seus diálogos, mas trata as questões fonológicas das variedades regionais. Desse modo, foi possível constatar que o tratamento das variedades sociolinguísticas mostrou-se insuficiente e, em alguns casos, inexistente em ambos os livros didáticos, fazendo-nos concluir que o aprendiz, cujo input linguístico derive de seus conteúdos, dificilmente desenvolverá uma competência sociolinguística que lhe propicie reconhecer e compreender adequadamente enunciados produzidos em diferentes contextos comunicativos.
Studies in Sociolinguistics have shown the complexity of contemporary Italian arquitecture, composed of both linguistic varieties, common to all natural languages and related to diamesic, diastratic, diaphasic and diatopic dimension, and the dialects and interlanguages. Nonetheless, this intricate reality doesn\'t seem to reach learners of Italian, especially outside Italy, which often have the impression that this language is monolithic and that it doesn\'t change. In general, this reflect on their performance as speakers of the language they learn, therefore, since they believe that the Italian language is unique and unchangeable, they will not be able to recognize linguistic varieties produced by native speakers. Considering the importance of the textbook as a source of linguistic input in the classroom and as a guide for teacher\'s and learner\'s activity, we selected, in the period in which our research began, the two most used textbooks for Italian teaching in the State of São Paulo, and analyzed how and to what extent these works expose the learner to linguistic varieties of Italian, in order to develop sociolinguistic competence and mainly receptive sensibility to Italian linguistic reality. We analyzed the dialogues, the student books and teacher\'s guides of the teaching collections Linea Diretta and Rete! based on 67 criteria chosen by selecting phenomena that could identify different varieties of Italian. The results related to the textbook Linea diretta let say that this collection implicitly addresses some of the considered phenomena, but doesn\'t explore them explicitly. On the other side, Rete! practically doesn\'t insert in its dialogues sociolinguistically marked phenomena, but treats phonological issues of regional varieties. So, it was found that the treatment of sociolinguistic varieties proved to be scanty and, in some cases, not existent in both textbooks. This caused the conclusion that learners, whose linguistic input derives from its content, can hardly develop a sociolinguistic competence that can allow them to recognize and understand properly utterances produced in different communicative contexts.

Orientadores: Tania Maria Alkmin, Maria Irma Hadler Coudry
Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem
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Resumo: Neste trabalho, investigamos o Centro de Convivência de Afásicos (CCA). Defendemos: a) que o CCA é uma comunidade de fala que se caracteriza pela prática clínica que relaciona língua(gem), cultura e sociedade e pela construção do saber dessa prática na relação entre língua(gem), cultura e sociedade; b) que nas situações comunicativas e eventos comunicativos em que se engajam os sujeitos cérebros-lesados no CCA, a língua(gem) apresenta-se constitutivamente incompleta, falha e heterogênea, características da ordem própria e estrutural da língua quando usada também pelos sujeitos não-cérebros-lesados; c) que a atitude dos sujeitos cérebros-lesados inseridos no CCA é de permanecerem como sujeitos de linguagem na sociedade; d) e que a atitude dos pesquisadores é a de inserir os sujeitos cérebros-lesados em eventos comunicativos, através da prática clínica em que não se separa língua(gem), cultura e sociedade. Para tanto, com base em conceitos e postulados teóricos dos quadros teóricos da Etnografia da Comunicação, aliados a conceitos e postulados da Neurolingüística Discursiva, analisamos o corpus da pesquisa, constituído de transcrições de gravações de situações comunicativas e eventos comunicativos vivenciados entre 2002 e 2004, no Grupo II do CCA. Os resultados indicam que, ao lado dos sujeitos não afásicos do CCA, os sujeitos afásicos, inseridos nessa comunidade de fala, são levados a enfrentar a afasia, agindo com e sobre a linguagem, a partir de repertório comunicativo variado que inclui recursos lingüísticos e não lingüísticos, em diferentes situações discursivas/comunicativas e eventos discursivos/comunicativos.
Abstract: In this work we examine the Centro de Convivência de Afásicos (CCA). We argue that: a) the CCA is a speech community which is characterized by clinical practice that relates language, culture and society and by the knowledge construction of this practice in the relationship between language, culture and society; b) in communicative situations and communicative events in which the brain damage subjects at CCA are engaged, the language is incomplete, defective and heterogeneous, characteristics considered as being part of the language proper order and structure when used by subjects without brain damage as well; c) the attitude of the brain damage subjects who are at the CCA is to remain as subjects of language in society; d) the researchers attitude is to insert the brain damage subjects in communicative events through clinical practice where language, culture and society are not to be separated. Thus, based upon theoretical concepts and postulates of the Ethnography of Communication?s theoretical framework and concepts and postulates of Discursive Neurolinguistics, we have analyzed the research corpus which is constituted of recording transcriptions from communicative situations and communicative events realized from 2002 to 2004 at CCA?s Group II. The results suggests that as the non-aphasics-subjects at CCA, the aphasic ones who are part of this speech community face aphasia by acting with and about the language, using linguistic and non-linguistic resources in different discursive/communicative situations and discursive/communicative events.
Doutorado
Doutor em Linguística

This dissertation contributes to the variationist understanding of the process of phonetic accommodation through the analysis of syllable-final consonant weakening in the speech of native speakers of New York Dominican Spanish (NYDS) during their interactions with second language learners of Spanish. The principal objective is to examine the inner workings of the accommodation phenomenon by using Dominican Spanish as a medium. The data analyzed in this dissertation come from conversations between the informants—native speakers of NYDS—and four different interlocutors, one of whom is a fellow native speaker of NYDS and three who are second-language learners of Spanish with varying degrees of Spanish-language competence. Not only does this dissertation help to fill a large gap in the current research regarding the phenomenon of accommodation as it happens in Spanish by analyzing natural speech in dyadic conversations, but it will also track the accommodative process as it happens in real time by taking measurements from various time points during such conversations.

The informants in this study are bilingual first- and second-generation Dominicans currently living in New York, and their interlocutors are one fellow native speaker of NYDS and three second-language learners of Spanish. The L2 Spanish-speaking interlocutors are divided into three categories based on their proficiency in Spanish: Intermediate interlocutors (those who have taken two years of university-level Spanish), Advanced interlocutors (those who have declared Spanish as a major, have studied abroad in a Spanish-speaking country, and have taken four to five years of university-level Spanish) and Superior interlocutors (those who hold advanced degrees in Spanish and teach Spanish classes at the university level). Data are collected through a series of interview-based conversations between each informant and their four interlocutors. Each conversation is divided into three sections and a maximum of 350 contexts in which variation could occur in the articulation of syllable-final consonants /s/, /l/, /r/ and /n/ are extracted from each segment of each recorded conversation. The articulation of each token is impressionistically coded as either weakening or retention based on a series of auditory and acoustic cues. Once coded, the data are input into statistical analysis software for descriptive statistical analyses.

The results from this dissertation study show that during interactions with the most- and least-proficient speakers of Spanish, NYDS speakers nearly exclusively retain syllable-final consonants, but the same speakers frequently weaken final consonants during interactions with fellow NYDS speakers and with mid-proficient nonnative interlocutors. The principal contribution that this dissertation makes to the field of language study is that speakers in fact do meter their use of highly salient, emblematic speech features to navigate social relationships and index their belonging to a given group, both with native and nonnative speakers of the language variety in question. In the general study of language varieties in contact, studies such as these that quantify accommodation in real-time conversations are paramount for furthering the discussion of contact phenomena, such as dialect levelling and cross-dialectal convergence.

Мета: детально проаналізувати висловлювання подяки англомовного художнього дискурсу у розрізі їх вербалізації у мові та мовленні, способи передачі засобами української мови, а також розглянути їх культурний аспект, який особливо важливий для розвивання соціолінгвістичної компетенції в учнів на уроках англійської мови. Теоретичне значення:у роботі проаналізовано та визначено основні способи передачі англійських висловлювань подяки засобами української мови. Наукова проблема: не зважаючи на те, що формули подяки мають універсальний характер у більшості мов, їх реалізація у мові та мовленні має суттєві відмінності у порівнюваних мовах, які потребують детального розгляду. Методологія дослідження: включає критичний аналіз літературних джерел, порівняльний та дискурсивний аналіз. Порівняльний аналіз здійснювався на базі Національного корпуса російської мови із залученням паралельного мультимовного корпуса, а також виконувалась вибірка фрагментів, які містять висловлення подяки, із книг англомовних авторів. Основні результати і висновки: визначено, що для передачі англійських висловлювань подяки на українську необхідний пошук постійних та варіантних відповідників у МП, а також залучення граматичних та лексико-семантичних трансформацій для досягнення адекватності у перекладі. А також з’ясовано, що навчанням висловам подяки у школі обов’язково має включати їх культурний аспект.
Цель: детально проанализировать выражения благодарности англоязычного художественного дискурса в разрезе их вербализации в языке и речи, способы их передачи средствами украинского языка, а также рассмотреть их культурный аспект, который особенно важен для развития социолингвистической компетенции в учащихся на уроках английского языка. Теоретическое значение: в работе проанализированы и определены основные способы передачи английских высказываний благодарности средствами украинского языка. Научная проблема: несмотря на то, что формулы благодарности имеют универсальный характер в большинстве языков, их реализация в языке и речи имеет существенные отличия в сравниваемых языках, которые требуют детального рассмотрения. Методология исследования: включает критический анализ литературных источников, сравнительный и дискурсивный анализ. Сравнительный анализ осуществлялся на базе Национального корпуса русского языка с привлечением параллельного мультиязычного корпуса, а также выполнялась выборка фрагментов, содержащих выражения благодарности, из книг англоязычных авторов. Основные результаты и выводы: определено, что для передачи английских высказываний благодарности на украинский необходим поиск постоянных и вариантных соответствий в ПЯ, а также привлечение грамматических и лексико-семантических трансформаций для достижения адекватности в переводе. А также установлено, что для обучения высказываниям благодарности в школе обязательно должен быть включён их культурный аспект.
Goal: to analyze in details the expressions of gratitude of the English literary discourse in terms of their verbalization in language and speech, define ways of their transmission by means of the Ukrainian language, and to consider their cultural aspect, which is especially important for the development of sociolinguistic competence in students in English lessons. Theoretical meaning: the paper analyzes and identifies the main ways of transmitting English gratitude by means of the Ukrainian language. Scientific problem: although gratitude formulas are universal in most languages, their implementation in language and speech has significant differences in comparable languages that require a detailed consideration. Methodological base covers critical analysis of literary sources, comparative and discursive analysis. The analysis is carried out on the basis of the National Corpus of the Russian Language, parallel multilingual corpus, as well as by the direct selection of fragments containing expressions of gratitude from the books of English-speaking authors. Main results and conclusions: It is determined that in order to convey English expressions of gratitude into Ukrainian, it is necessary to search for constant and variant correspondences in the TL, as well as to involve grammatical and lexico-semantic transformations in order to achieve translation adequacy. It has also been found that teaching gratitude at school must include their cultural facets.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior
Fundamentado na Sociolinguística Educacional, este trabalho apresenta resultados de uma pesquisa cujo objetivo foi verificar o tratamento da variação linguística nas aulas de língua portuguesa, especialmente, da concordância de número no sintagma nominal, durante a interação aluno/aluno e professor/aluno em uma sala do 6 ano do ensino fundamental de uma escola pública de Boa Vista-RR. O trabalho teve como foco os processos de identificação e conscientização dessa variação como parte do processo de monitoração e, consequentemente, do desenvolvimento da competência comunicativa dos alunos. Através de uma análise microetnográfica dos processos interativos, registrados através de protocolos verbais e fundamentadas na Sociolinguística Interacional e Variacionista, pude observar que, apesar de o ensino de língua portuguesa implicar a pertinência da abordagem do tema variação linguística como conhecimento linguístico necessário ao aluno, esta ainda não se faz presente em sala. E, de forma complementar, detectei, também, nos documentos reguladores da prática do professor, a inobservância de aspectos voltados para o trato da variação linguística.
Based on the Educational Sociolinguistics, this work presents the results of a research whose objective is to verify the treatment of the linguistics variation in the Portuguese classes, mainly regarding concordance of number in the nominal syntagma, during the interaction student/student and teacher/student in a class of the 6th grade of an elementary public school from Boa Vista, Roraima, focusing the processes of identification and awareness of this variation as part of the interactive process, registered through verbal protocols and based in the Interactional and Variational Sociolinguistics, I could observe that, despite the Portuguese Language teaching implicate in the pertinence of the approaching linguistics variation as necessary linguistics knowledge, it is not present in class yet. And in a complementary form, I also detected the inobservance of aspects regarding to the linguistics variation in the documents that rules the teachers practice.

Especially for the last twenty years, the studies of Linguistic Landscapes (LLs) have been gaining the status as an autonomous linguistic discipline. The LL of a (mostly) geographically limited area – which consists of e.g. billboards, posters, shop signs, material for election campaigns, etc. – gives deep insights into the presence or absence of languages in that particular area. Thus, LL not only allows to conclude from the presence of a language to its dominance, but also from its absence to the oppression of minorities, above all in areas where minority languages should – demographically seen – be visible. The LLs of big cities are fruitful research areas due to the mass of linguistic data. The first part of this paper deals with the theoretical and practical research that has been conducted in LL studies so far. A summary of the theory, methodologies and different approaches is given. In the second part I apply the theoretical basis to my own case study. For this, the LLs of two shopping streets in different areas of Hong Kong were examined in 2010. It seems likely that the linguistic competence of English must be rather high in Hong Kong, due to the long-lasting influence of British culture and mentality and the official status of the language. The case study's results are based on empirical data showing the objectively visible presence of English in both examined areas, as well as on two surveys. Those were conducted both openly and anonymously. The surveys are a reinsurance measuring the level of linguistic competence of English in Hong Kong. That level was defined before by an analysis of the LL. Hence, this case study is a new approach to LL analysis which does not end with the description of its material composition (as have done most studies before), but which rather includes its creators by asking in what way people's actual linguistic competence is reflected in Hong Kong's LL.
Das Forschungsfeld der Linguistic Landscape (LL) hat sich vor allem in den letzten zwanzig Jahren als autonome Disziplin im Bereich der Sprachwissenschaft emanzipiert. Die LL eines meist geografisch eingegrenzten Gebietes – die beispielsweise aus Reklametafeln, Plakaten, Ladenschildern, Wahlkampfpropaganda, etc. besteht – erlaubt tiefe Einblicke in die An- oder Abwesenheit von Sprachen auf dem jeweiligen Gebiet. Die LL lässt dadurch nicht nur Rückschlüsse auf die Dominanz einer Sprache aufgrund ihrer Anwesenheit zu, sondern auch auf die Unterdrückung einer Minderheit durch die Abwesenheit ihrer Sprache an Orten, an denen die Minderheitensprache demografisch gesehen eigentlich sichtbar sein müsste. Wegen des Überflusses an linguistischen Daten in den LLs großer Städte sind diese ergiebige Tätigkeitsfelder für die Disziplin. Diese Arbeit beschäftigt sich im ersten Teil mit der theoretischen und praktischen Forschung, die es bislang zu diesem Thema gab. Sie prüft den Stand der Theoriebildung, fasst Methodiken zusammen und gibt einen Überblick über verschiedene Ansätze. Im zweiten Teil wird die theoretische Basis auf eine eigene Fallstudie angewendet. Für diese wurden 2010 die LLs zweier Einkaufsstraßen in unterschiedlichen Gegenden Hong Kongs untersucht. Durch den dort lange währenden Einfluss der englischen Kultur und Mentalität und den offiziellen Status der Sprache liegt der Schluss nahe, dass die Sprachkompetenz des Englischen in Hong Kong eher hoch sein muss. Die Ergebnisse der Fallstudie basieren sowohl auf der Erhebung von statistischen Daten, die die objektive Anwesenheit des Englischen in der LL beider untersuchten Gegenden zeigt, als auch auf zwei daraus resultierenden Befragungen. Diese wurden zum einen offen, zum anderen anonym durchgeführt. Die Befragungen stellen eine Rückversicherung dar, die den Grad der Sprachkompetenz des Englischen in Hong Kong misst, welcher zuvor anhand der LL festgestellt wurde. Damit bietet die Fallstudie einen neuen Ansatz der Untersuchung einer LL, der im Gegensatz zu vorangegangenen Studien nicht bei der Beschreibung ihrer materiellen Beschaffenheit endet, sondern auch ihre Schöpfenden miteinbezieht und sich fragt, inwiefern die LL von Hong Kong die tatsächliche Sprachkompetenz der Menschen widerspiegelt.

RAQUEL, Betânia Maria Gomes. Competências sociolinguísticas na escola pública cearense: saberes, atitudes linguísticas e práticas pedagógicas de docentes no 5º ano do Ensino Fundamental. 2015. 263f. – Tese (Doutorado) – Universidade Federal do Ceará, Departamento de Letras Vernáculas, Programa de Pós-graduação em Linguística, Fortaleza (CE), 2015.
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This thesis investigates the didactic and pedagogical treatment given by teachers to linguistically variable phenomena, with a view to the development of sociolinguistic competence of students in the 5th year of elementary school from Ceará, Brazil, studying in the public municipal system. Under the Variation Theory and Language Changes Basis from William Labov (1977, 1978, 1983, 2003, 2008) the sociolinguistic knowledge which permeates teachers initial and continuing education, their attitudes against variation phenomenon and language change and their pedagogical practices in classroom aiming students „sociolinguistic competencies development. The sample schools for this study was defined by the smaller (< 48,0 % (Group A)) and larger (> 77,8 (Group B)) adjustable percentages obtained by the schools in the Linguistic Variation Descriptor (D29) and SPAECE 2012 exam. The total of schools is 397 municipal schools, distributed in 135 towns. The quantitative and qualitative study was performed in two stages. The first stage (quantitative) was analyzed based on knowledge, attitudes and practices of 255 teachers from 5th grade from the 397 selected schools referred from an online questionnaire. Completing the analysis, the result of the total of students who did SPAECE 2012 exam (124.173) was analyzed. The percentage of trial and errors on each of the D29 items was dissociated considering the teacher`s group academic education: Pedagogy or Languages. The first step results demonstrated that there are no relevant differences between teachers from Group A and Group B about knowledge, attitudes and pedagogical practices related to linguistically variable phenomena. Referring to this result, on the complementary study, there was not also a relevant difference on the students‟ results related to the two items which were considered easy, no matter the students are from a teacher who studied Pedagogy or Languages. About the two items which were considered difficult, there was a larger percentage of corrected items from the students who are leaded by the teacher who studied Languages. On the second stage of the research (qualitative) 09 schools from Fortaleza, Ceará were involved. They were from the initial sample - 05 of them with lower percentage of correct answers (Group A) and 04 of them with higher percentage of correct answers on D29 (group B). It was involved 09 teachers from 5th grade (01 per school) altogether. The observed results from Group A teachers, graduated in Pedagogy, and group B teachers, graduated in Languages were relatively distant. Group B has demonstrated specific knowledge about linguistically variable phenomena and sometimes less prescriptive attitudes face the facts of linguistic variation. They also make use of different strategies related to linguistic variation in class. The two groups need more theoretic and methodological sociolinguistic basement in order to contribute for the students sociolinguistic competences.
Esta tese investiga o tratamento didático-pedagógico dado pelos professores que atuam no ensino de Língua Portuguesa, no 5º ano do Ensino Fundamental, da rede pública municipal de ensino do Ceará, aos fenômenos linguisticamente variáveis, que contribuem para o desenvolvimento das competências sociolinguísticas dos alunos. Sob o suporte da Teoria da Variação e Mudança Linguística, de William Labov (1977, 1978, 1983, 2003, 2008), enfocaram-se os saberes sociolinguísticos que perpassam a formação inicial e continuada desses docentes, suas atitudes frente ao fenômeno da variação e mudança linguística e as práticas pedagógicas por eles utilizadas em sala de aula, com fins de levar os alunos a desenvolverem as competências sociolinguísticas. A amostra de escolas deste estudo foi definida levando-se em conta os menores (< 48,0 % (Grupo A)) e os maiores percentuais de acerto (> 77,8 ( Grupo B)) obtidos pelas escolas no Descritor de Variação Linguística (D29), no SPAECE 2012, totalizando 397 escolas municipais, distribuídas em 135 municípios do Estado. O estudo quanti-qualitativo foi realizado em duas etapas. A primeira etapa, predominantemente quantitativa, consistiu, inicialmente, em uma análise geral acerca dos saberes, atitudes e práticas de 255 professores do 5º ano, das 397 escolas da amostra, a partir da coleta de dados por meio de questionário online. Com fins de dar complementariedade às análises nessa etapa, foram analisados os resultados do total de alunos que realizou o SPAECE 2012 (124.173). O percentual de erros e acertos em cada um dos quatro itens referentes ao D29 foi desagregado considerando a formação do professor da turma: Pedagogia ou Letras. Os resultados da primeira etapa demonstraram que não há diferenças significativas entre os professores do Grupo A e os professores do Grupo B quanto aos saberes, atitudes e práticas pedagógicas relacionados aos fenômenos linguisticamente variáveis. Alinhado a esse resultado, no estudo complementar, também não houve diferença significativa nos resultados obtidos pelos alunos nos dois itens considerados fáceis, independente de serem alunos de professores com formação em Pedagogia ou Letras. Nos dois itens considerados difíceis o comportamento foi outro: houve um percentual de acerto maior por parte dos alunos de professores com graduação em Letras. Na 2ª etapa da pesquisa, predominantemente qualitativa, participaram as 09 (nove) escolas de Fortaleza que faziam parte da amostra inicial, 05 com menor percentual de acerto (Grupo A) e 04 com maior percentual de acerto no D29 (Grupo B). Ao todo foram envolvidos 09 (nove) professores do 5º ano (01 por escola). Os resultados observados junto aos professores das escolas do Grupo A, graduados em Pedagogia, e os professores das escolas do Grupo B, predominantemente, graduados em Letras, distanciam-se, relativamente, entre si. Os professores do Grupo B, em relação ao Grupo A, no geral, demonstraram ter alguns conhecimentos mais específicos sobre os fenômenos linguisticamente variáveis e, às vezes, atitudes menos prescritivas frente aos fatos linguísticos que envolvem variação, além de fazerem uso de algumas estratégias diferenciadas ao abordar a variação linguística em sala de aula. Os dois grupos, entretanto, demonstraram carecer de um maior embasamento teórico e metodológico da Sociolinguística com fins de melhor contribuir para o desenvolvimento das competências sociolinguísticas dos alunos.

Este trabajo de acción-investigación se centra en la descripción, el análisis y la evaluación crítica de un curso de estudios culturales sobre el mundo hispano y concretamente de España, enmarcado dentro de una pedagogía post-comunicativa centrada en los contenidos, en el que se explora el valor de los estereotipos como artefacto mediador para el cambio de actitudes relacionados con las culturas objeto de estudio. Con el fin de desarrollar el análisis crítico en los aprendientes, se examinarán las relaciones de poder establecidas en la sociedad, la política, el arte y la cultura en España durante el siglo XX y hasta la actualidad, y los conceptos oficiales de cultura en relación con esas estructuras de poder. Para este propósito se utilizarán debates, trabajos de investigación personal, conversaciones con compañeros de clase, con un nativo, así como reflexiones personales sobre las culturas propias y las que son objeto de estudio a través de una serie de evaluaciones formativas y sumativas. Los contenidos del curso se analizarán por medio del discurso argumentativo, o análisis reflexivo y crítico de productos, valores, situaciones y experiencias. Su finalidad pedagógica general es observar y describir los movimientos de la competencia comunicativa intercultural en los estudiantes durante el semestre o quizá como resultado de una fase anterior de contacto con la cultura meta; siendo estos componentes en particular la consciencia cultural e intercultural y la sensibilidad cultural. De igual modo, no descartaremos otros aspectos de la competencia intercultural que, aunque no aparecieran formulados en ninguno de los marcos teóricos consultados, sirvieran para reformular o ampliar el concepto de competencia intercultural. Aunque se preferiría introducir el análisis pormenorizado de variables individuales de personalidad y orientación de la identidad dentro de los factores analizados, se procederá al análisis del corpus teniendo en cuenta sólo datos personales e identitarios facilitados por los estudiantes de manera natural a lo largo del semestre, así como el nivel de competencia lingüística. De la misma forma, en este estudio longitudinal aceptaremos los límites impuestos por la duración de los cursos semestrales en EEUU (tres meses y medio aproximadamente), que habrán de apuntar sin embargo hacia nuevas direcciones para la investigación con el fin de mejorar los programas de enseñanza del español oral como vehículo para el desarrollo intercultural. De la misma forma, esperamos mejorar la comprensión de los fenómenos relacionados con el desarrollo de la conciencia cultural e intercultural, así como de la sensibilidad intercultural, consideradas clásicamente precursoras de la competencia intercultural, desde un punto de vista del trabajo por tareas, pero enfocado en los contenidos más que en la enseñanza implícita o explícita de la forma gramatical, o sea desde un enfoque post-comunicativo.
This action-research study focuses on the description, analysis and critical evaluation of a course for cultural studies about the Hispanic world, and Spain, framed within a post-communicative content-centered pedagogy which uses stereotypes as a mediating artifact to change attitudes toward the cultures being studied. The overall aim of the course is to help develop learners critical thinking skills through the examination of power relations in society, politics, art and culture in Spain/USA during the twentieth century, and to the present. Likewise, oficial concepts of culture will be examined within those power structures. For this purpose, debates, personal research projects, discussions with classmates, and with a native, as well as personal reflections about the cultures being studied, including their own, were implemented, and evaluated through a series of summative assessments. Course contents were analyzed by means of self-reflective texts, wich included culturally relevant products, values, situations and experiences. Its overall pedagogical goal was to observe and describe the movements of intercultural communicative competence in students during their undertaking of the course, or perhaps as a result of an earlier phase of contact with the target cultures; being the elements described mainly cultural and intercultural awareness and cultural sensitivity. Similarly, we did not discard other aspects of intercultural competence, even if not explicitly mentioned in any of the theoretical frameworks consulted, which assisted in reformulating or expand the concept within the foreign language classroom context. Personal traits variables, identity orientation, and linguistic proficiency were mentioned only in connection with relevant data provided spontaneously by the learners. Limited spam of college semesters were also be taken in the equation (3 months and a half), with the purpose of finding new, and better ways to teach oral Spanish as a second language, and as a vehicle for intercultural development. Summarizing, it is our goal to improve the understanding of phenomena from a communicative point of view, related with sub-concepts of intercultural competence, that is cultural and intercultural awareness, and sensitivity, which are likewise classically considered precursors of intercultural competence.

Pragmatic competence has become an essential component of L2 (second language) proficiency. The purpose of this case study is to investigate how pragmatic competence in English is taught in a public Swedish secondary and upper secondary school. The aim with this study is to reach an in-depth understanding of how the teachers in this specific school view, value and teach pragmatic competence. The study has a qualitative approach and was conducted through semi-structured interviews with two teachers. In addition to the interviews, an analysis of the pedagogic material used in the classroom was made. The most significant findings of the study show that pragmatic competence and cultural knowledge are teachable and are indeed being taught in the studied school. Different types of oral activities are the mostly used pedagogical practices to teach different aspects of pragmatic competence. The aspects of pragmatic competence that are in focus, in both secondary and upper secondary school, are formal and informal language, adaptation of the language and politeness.

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Esta tese investiga o tratamento didÃtico-pedagÃgico dado pelos professores que atuam no ensino de LÃngua Portuguesa, no 5 ano do Ensino Fundamental, da rede pÃblica municipal de ensino do CearÃ, aos fenÃmenos linguisticamente variÃveis, que contribuem para o desenvolvimento das competÃncias sociolinguÃsticas dos alunos. Sob o suporte da Teoria da VariaÃÃo e MudanÃa LinguÃstica, de William Labov (1977, 1978, 1983, 2003, 2008), enfocaram-se os saberes sociolinguÃsticos que perpassam a formaÃÃo inicial e continuada desses docentes, suas atitudes frente ao fenÃmeno da variaÃÃo e mudanÃa linguÃstica e as prÃticas pedagÃgicas por eles utilizadas em sala de aula, com fins de levar os alunos a desenvolverem as competÃncias sociolinguÃsticas. A amostra de escolas deste estudo foi definida levando-se em conta os menores (< 48,0 % (Grupo A)) e os maiores percentuais de acerto (> 77,8 ( Grupo B)) obtidos pelas escolas no Descritor de VariaÃÃo LinguÃstica (D29), no SPAECE 2012, totalizando 397 escolas municipais, distribuÃdas em 135 municÃpios do Estado. O estudo quanti-qualitativo foi realizado em duas etapas. A primeira etapa, predominantemente quantitativa, consistiu, inicialmente, em uma anÃlise geral acerca dos saberes, atitudes e prÃticas de 255 professores do 5 ano, das 397 escolas da amostra, a partir da coleta de dados por meio de questionÃrio online. Com fins de dar complementariedade Ãs anÃlises nessa etapa, foram analisados os resultados do total de alunos que realizou o SPAECE 2012 (124.173). O percentual de erros e acertos em cada um dos quatro itens referentes ao D29 foi desagregado considerando a formaÃÃo do professor da turma: Pedagogia ou Letras. Os resultados da primeira etapa demonstraram que nÃo hà diferenÃas significativas entre os professores do Grupo A e os professores do Grupo B quanto aos saberes, atitudes e prÃticas pedagÃgicas relacionados aos fenÃmenos linguisticamente variÃveis. Alinhado a esse resultado, no estudo complementar, tambÃm nÃo houve diferenÃa significativa nos resultados obtidos pelos alunos nos dois itens considerados fÃceis, independente de serem alunos de professores com formaÃÃo em Pedagogia ou Letras. Nos dois itens considerados difÃceis o comportamento foi outro: houve um percentual de acerto maior por parte dos alunos de professores com graduaÃÃo em Letras. Na 2 etapa da pesquisa, predominantemente qualitativa, participaram as 09 (nove) escolas de Fortaleza que faziam parte da amostra inicial, 05 com menor percentual de acerto (Grupo A) e 04 com maior percentual de acerto no D29 (Grupo B). Ao todo foram envolvidos 09 (nove) professores do 5 ano (01 por escola). Os resultados observados junto aos professores das escolas do Grupo A, graduados em Pedagogia, e os professores das escolas do Grupo B, predominantemente, graduados em Letras, distanciam-se, relativamente, entre si. Os professores do Grupo B, em relaÃÃo ao Grupo A, no geral, demonstraram ter alguns conhecimentos mais especÃficos sobre os fenÃmenos linguisticamente variÃveis e, Ãs vezes, atitudes menos prescritivas frente aos fatos linguÃsticos que envolvem variaÃÃo, alÃm de fazerem uso de algumas estratÃgias diferenciadas ao abordar a variaÃÃo linguÃstica em sala de aula. Os dois grupos, entretanto, demonstraram carecer de um maior embasamento teÃrico e metodolÃgico da SociolinguÃstica com fins de melhor contribuir para o desenvolvimento das competÃncias sociolinguÃsticas dos alunos.
This thesis investigates the didactic and pedagogical treatment given by teachers to linguistically variable phenomena, with a view to the development of sociolinguistic competence of students in the 5th year of elementary school from CearÃ, Brazil, studying in the public municipal system. Under the Variation Theory and Language Changes Basis from William Labov (1977, 1978, 1983, 2003, 2008) the sociolinguistic knowledge which permeates teachers initial and continuing education, their attitudes against variation phenomenon and language change and their pedagogical practices in classroom aiming students âsociolinguistic competencies development. The sample schools for this study was defined by the smaller (< 48,0 % (Group A)) and larger (> 77,8 (Group B)) adjustable percentages obtained by the schools in the Linguistic Variation Descriptor (D29) and SPAECE 2012 exam. The total of schools is 397 municipal schools, distributed in 135 towns. The quantitative and qualitative study was performed in two stages. The first stage (quantitative) was analyzed based on knowledge, attitudes and practices of 255 teachers from 5th grade from the 397 selected schools referred from an online questionnaire. Completing the analysis, the result of the total of students who did SPAECE 2012 exam (124.173) was analyzed. The percentage of trial and errors on each of the D29 items was dissociated considering the teacher`s group academic education: Pedagogy or Languages. The first step results demonstrated that there are no relevant differences between teachers from Group A and Group B about knowledge, attitudes and pedagogical practices related to linguistically variable phenomena. Referring to this result, on the complementary study, there was not also a relevant difference on the students‟ results related to the two items which were considered easy, no matter the students are from a teacher who studied Pedagogy or Languages. About the two items which were considered difficult, there was a larger percentage of corrected items from the students who are leaded by the teacher who studied Languages. On the second stage of the research (qualitative) 09 schools from Fortaleza, Cearà were involved. They were from the initial sample - 05 of them with lower percentage of correct answers (Group A) and 04 of them with higher percentage of correct answers on D29 (group B). It was involved 09 teachers from 5th grade (01 per school) altogether. The observed results from Group A teachers, graduated in Pedagogy, and group B teachers, graduated in Languages were relatively distant. Group B has demonstrated specific knowledge about linguistically variable phenomena and sometimes less prescriptive attitudes face the facts of linguistic variation. They also make use of different strategies related to linguistic variation in class. The two groups need more theoretic and methodological sociolinguistic basement in order to contribute for the students sociolinguistic competences.

Cette recherche pseudo-longitudinale privilégiant une approche sociolinguistique et didactique s’inscrit dans le domaine du développement de l’interlangue à travers l’analyse des erreurs morphosyntaxiques du français. Notre public s’est compose des lycéens kenyans anglophones. Cela a été effectué au sein de la capitale du Kenya, Nairobi et de sa banlieue. Les entretiens sur le terrain comprenant des exercices descriptifs et conversationnels à l’oral et à l’écrit, ont mené à la description, l’analyse et l’étiologie des erreurs morphosyntaxiques en français langue étrangère (désormais FLE) dans les productions des apprenants dans un contexte lycéen. L’analyse de ce corpus écrit et oral a révélé les erreurs morphosyntaxiques écrites et orales en français les plus récurrentes ainsi que leurs causes chez les lycéens kenyans. Ce travail s’achève par l’élaboration de propositions didactiques à l’écrit et à l’oral présentant des pistes de réflexion sur la remédiation des erreurs morphosyntaxiques des lycéens kenyans
This research favoring a sociolinguistic and didactic approach is based on the development of interlanguage through the analysis of morphosyntactical errors in French by English speaking Kenyan high school students in Nairobi and its suburbs. Field research composed of descriptive and conversational oral and written exercises in French as a foreign language was carried out on selected high school students. This paved way to the description and analysis of morphosyntactical errors in French. The analysis of the written and oral corpus helped to identify the most recurrent morphosyntactical and written errors in French, as well as their etiology. This pseudo-longitudinal research culminated in suggested written and oral didactical activities aimed at the correction of these morphosyntactical errors

Das Schulregister des Kultusministeriums MIUR verzeichnet, dass mehr als jede/r zehnte aller Schüler/innen in Italien keine italienische Staatsbürgerschaft hat, obwohl sie mehrheitlich dort geboren wurden. Zahlreiche Erhebungen weisen für sie im Vergleich zu den italienischen Mitschülern/innen geringere Italienischkenntnisse und weniger schulischen Erfolg auf. Innerhalb dieser explorativen Feldforschung haben Einzelinterviews mit 121 Schülern/innen (5.-8. Klasse) in Turiner Schulen und mit 26 Eltern, sowie die Auswertung von 141 an 27 Italienisch- und Herkunftsprachlehrer/innen verteilten Fragebögen ergeben, dass viele Schüler/innen "zweisprachige Natives" sind, da sie mit Italienisch und einer anderen Sprache aufwachsen. Dieser Polyglottismus, den die Interviewten sehr positiv bewerteten, findet jedoch in der Schulpraxis keine Entsprechung: Gezielte Förderung im Italienischen und der Unterricht der Familiensprache sind meist Wunschdenken. In der Kohorte haben die Schüler/innen mit den besten Italienischkenntnissen einen italophonen Elternteil bzw. kamen im Vorschulalter nach Italien und besuchten dort den Kindergarten. Dagegen sind, wie auch bei den INVALSI-Tests, die in Italien geborenen und die dann die Krippe besuchten, leicht benachteiligt. Was die Familiensprache angeht, verbessert ihr Erlernen die Kompetenzen darin, ohne dem Italienischen zu schaden: Im Gegenteil. Diese Ergebnisse bestätigen die wichtige Rolle der "anderen" Sprache für einen gelungen Spracherwerb. Das MIUR sollte also sein Schulregister mit Sprachdaten ergänzen, um die Curricula im Sinn der EU-Vorgaben umzuschreiben und den sprachlich heterogenen Klassen gezielte Ressourcen und definierte Vorgehensweisen zur Verfügung zu stellen. Mit geringeren Mitteln, im Vergleich zu den jetzigen Kosten für Herunterstufung, Klassenwiederholung und Schulabbruch würde man Schulerfolg, Chancengerechtigkeit und Mehrsprachigkeit fördern, mit positiven Folgen für den Einzelnen sowie für die Volkswirtschaft.
The Italian Ministry of Education (MIUR) student register records that today in Italy more than one out of ten students is not an Italian citizen, although the majority of them were born there. Several statistical surveys indicate that "foreign" students, when compared to native students, show a poorer performance in Italian and in academic achievement. This exploratory fieldwork carried out in schools in Turin (5th to 8th grade) analyzed data obtained through semi-structured interviews with 121 students and 26 parents as well as 141 questionnaires filled in by 27 teachers of Italian and family language. It showed that many students are "bilingual natives", as they grow up acquiring both Italian and another language; however, despite the fact that the interviewees rate polyglottism positively, schools don't usually offer targeted support in either language. Within the cohort the broadest range of competences in Italian are found first among those with an Italian-speaking parent, then among those who arrived in Italy at pre-school age attending kindergarten there; this latter group shows higher competences than those born in Italy attending nursery there, as also in the INVALSI tests. As far as family language is concerned, data illustrate that its teaching increases its competences without affecting those in Italian: quite the opposite in fact. These results confirm the remarkable role played by the "other" language in successful language education. MIUR is therefore called upon to include also linguistic data in its student register, so as to redefine its curricula according to EU Guidelines, and to identify specific procedures and resources for multilingual classes. This new policy would reduce the current cost of placing students in a lower grade, grade retention and drop-outs, and would promote school success, equal opportunities and multilingualism, with positive consequences both for the individuals and for the national economy.
L'anagrafe studenti del MIUR registra come oggi in Italia più di uno studente su dieci non è cittadino italiano, pur essendo la maggioranza di loro nata in questo paese. Numerose indagini statistiche mostrano come gli allievi "stranieri" presentino, rispetto a quelli italiani, ridotte competenze in italiano e minore successo scolastico. Questa ricerca esplorativa svolta in alcune scuole di Torino (V elementare-III media) ha analizzato dati ottenuti tramite interviste semi-strutturate a 121 studenti e 26 genitori e 141 questionari compilati da 27 insegnanti di italiano e di lingua di famiglia. Da essa è emerso che molti studenti sono "nativi bilingui", poiché crescono usando l'italiano e un'altra lingua. Questo poliglottismo, valutato dagli intervistati assai positivamente, non si rispecchia però nella prassi scolastica: un supporto mirato in italiano e l'insegnamento della lingua di famiglia sono di regola una chimera. All'interno del campione le più ampie competenze in italiano si trovano fra chi ha un genitore italofono e chi è arrivato in Italia in età prescolare frequentandovi la scuola materna; come constatato anche nei test INVALSI, chi è nato in Italia e vi ha frequentato l'asilo nido è leggermente svantaggiato. Rispetto alla lingua di famiglia risulta che il suo studio porta a migliori competenze in essa, senza nuocere all'italiano: anzi. Emerge quindi il ruolo significativo della lingua "altra" per un'educazione linguistica efficace. L'invito al MIUR è quindi di integrare la propria anagrafe con dati linguistici, così da ridefinire i propri curricula secondo le Linee Guida Comunitarie, individuando procedure e risorse specifiche per le classi multilingui. Con un investimento ridotto, paragonato con il costo attuale dato da retrocessioni, ripetenze e abbandono scolastico, si riuscirebbe a sostenere il successo scolastico, le pari opportunità e il plurilinguismo, con conseguenze positive per i singoli e per l'economia nazionale.

The main goal of this study was to investigate whether computer-mediated communication (CMC) intercultural exchange offers the conditions necessary for the development of the sociolinguistic competence of L2 learners. The secondary goal was to provide a description of the characteristics of the exchange as a language practice regarding language learning and cultural contact. Non-native speakers (NNS) of French in British Columbia interacted through computer-mediated communication with native speakers (NS) of French in Quebec over the course of one school semester. The data for this study included the transcripts of text-based chat discussions and of a group forum, and answers to questionnaires and interviews. Drawing on the sociocultural perspective, this study used a qualitative approach to analyze the collected data. The framework used to guide the sociolinguistic inquiry consisted of The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (Council of Europe, 2001). The findings of this study suggest that intercultural CMC exchange offers positive conditions for the development of this competence. NNS were exposed to sociolinguistic variation and made minor changes in their use of sociolinguistic elements, showing that they developed sensitivity to the vernacular style used by NS. In addition, the exchange fostered the creation of a collective meaning that allowed L2 learners to participate in meaningful interactions and to increase their level of confidence. Finally, the exchange allowed participants to experience the dimension of “culture as individual” (Levy, 2007), an aspect of culture that encouraged them to share their personal views on culture and to connect on a personal level with their NS partners.

The main goal of the thesis is to show the possibilities of using drama education in English lessons with concentration on developing sociolinguistic competence. The thesis comprises of two parts ? theoretical and practical. The theoretical is divided into three chapters. The first deals with the sociolinguistic competence and its conception in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages and in the Framework Educational Programme, the second is devoted to drama education and drama techniques and methods and the third briefly deals with teaching foreign languages in the two above mentioned curriculum documents. The practical part includes the three lesson plans which mainly concentrate on developing the sociolinguistic competence of students at middle school level and it also includes reflection of the lessons. The practical part is based on the theoretical knowledge from the theoretical part and can serve as a source of inspiration or manual for teachers who are interested in developing not only communicative but also social and personal competence.

The study sheds light on the interrelations between interlanguage pragmatics and the use of a popular acting method, the Stanislavsky System, for second language (L2) acquisition. The theoretical investigation explores various uses of acting in second language education. The empirical enquiry represents an exploratory case-study of two adult EFL learners attending a theatre course in English. Through teacher journals, interviews, and the analysis of the students’ pragmatic performance as captured by a video camera, the researcher hypothesizes that the pragmatic development of the students involved in drama comes from three main sources: the script, the acting exercises, and the necessity to communicate in English during the theatre course. In all three cases, the zone of proximal development in relation to pragmatic competence emerged as a result of a teacher-generated impetus to use L2, numerous opportunities for imitation and repetition, continuous peer-support, and the collaborative spirit created in the classroom.

This thesis examines the results of a large-scale sociolinguistic study on the use of English in two universities in China. The aim of the thesis is to determine the sociolinguistic realities of the use of English in higher education in China. The universities were selected on the basis of their unique status in China’s higher education hierarchy. One university was a private institute reliant on student fees for its income, and the other a state-funded university under the supervision of the Chinese Ministry of Education. A sociolinguistic survey was conducted involving some 490 respondents at these universities between early 2012 and mid-2013. It was specifically aimed at describing the use of the English language in the formal education of students. The study reports on the status and functions of English at the universities, as well as the attitudes of various stakeholders towards English (and other languages). It also examines their beliefs about English. English is considered in a number of contexts: first, the context of language contact, of English alongside other languages and language varieties on the two university campuses; second, of English as part of the linguistic worlds of Chinese students who switch between languages in their daily lives, both in their education as well as their private lives; and third, of the spread and use of English in terms of the physical and virtual movement of people across spaces. The findings of the study indicate that the increasing use of English in the formal education at these universities is having an impact on the ways in which Chinese students are learning their course materials, and even more notably in the myriad ways these students are using multiple languages to negotiate their everyday lives. As university students in China become increasingly bilingual, their ability to move across spaces is shown to increase, both in the ‘real’ world, as well as in their Internet and entertainment lives.
Linguistics
D. Lit. et Phil. (Linguistics)

An immense degree of linguistic diversity exists in the work force where it is possible for speakers of twenty-three home languages to come into contact on the work floor. The language of management in industry is predominantly English; while supervisors are primarily English- or Afrikaans-speaking. Misinterpretation of speaker intent plays a significant role in communication breakdown that occurs when management or foremen/supervisors communicate directly with workers who do not understand the two erstwhile official languages sufficiently or not at all. Reagan ( 1 986) hypothesized that the greatest number of problems are caused by what might be termed mutual ignorance, rather than by language difficulties. The aim of the thesis was therefore to establish what constitutes the mutual ignorance that leads to misinterpretation of speaker intent. The Hymesian model, the ethnography of speaking, was used as a model for an analysis of sociolinguistic features in factories in the Pretoria-WitwatersrandVereeniging area. For data collection a process of triangulation was used and qualitative and quantitative methods used. The Free Attitude Interview technique was used for unstructured interviews. Other methods include observation, and elicitation procedures such as the Discourse Completion Test, which were used in structured interviews. Language preference, forms of address and politeness markers were examined. Findings revealed that the major differences were found to be in the area of non-verbal behaviour. Speakers of Afrikaans and English are, on the whole, unaware of politeness markers used by speakers of African languages. Afrikaans and English speakers are unaware of offensive non-verbal behaviour used by them. It is revealing that speakers of the official languages believe this to be the very area that makes communication possible, but it is the area in which they may cause offence. It was also found that speakers of African languages have adopted many of the features of the power dominant group at work. The findings of the research are important for the development of strategies for overcoming misinterpretation of speaker intent and negative stereotyping. This research was undertaken as part of the Human Sciences Research Council's programme entitled Language in the labour situation.
Linguistics and Modern Languages
D.Litt. et Phil. (Linguistics)

HAVELKOVÁ, L. Culturological aspects in lessons of Russian and German (based on the material regarding Czech, Russian and German lores) : Dissertation thesis. Praha : Univerzita Karlova, 2011. 254 p. Supervisor: PhDr. Hana Žofková, CSc. Key words: communicative competence, comparison of lores, (folk)lores, foreign-language education, language picture of the world, sociolinguistic competence, use of lores in foreing- language teaching Abstract: The dissertation thesis deals with culturological aspects of foreign-language education when concentrating on folklores, their culturological potential, their comparison and the possibility of their use in German and Russian language class work. The thesis is dedicated to the issue that has not been either theoretically or practically developed yet. The main objective was the discovery whether folklores can be used in foreign-language education while shaping communicative competence and eventually how they can be used. The thesis comes out from general relation between a language and culture, from knowledge about national culture and its components and from the analysis of basic modern linguistic didactic principles. The theoretical part explains basic terms and relations towards related disciplines which are crucial for the issue solution as well as the communicative...

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)
Este estudio analiza las percepciones de mejoría en el español y de conocimiento cultural de los participantes en un programa de ayudantes de inglés, Auxiliares de Conversación, mientras trabajaron en escuelas primarias y secundarias en varias regiones de España. Los participantes provenían de varios países anglófonos, entre ellos los Estados Unidos, el Reino Unido, Canadá, Nueva Zelanda, Australia. Varios participantes rellenaron encuestas a través de internet para evaluar su crecimiento lingüístico y cultural durante el programa, experiencia en los centros educativos y alojamiento. Además, plantearon varias sugerencias para el programa para futuros auxiliares y profesores. Seis auxiliares fueron entrevistados sobre los mismos temas en mayor profundidad.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)
El propósito de esta investigación es ahondar más en las expectativas que forman los estudiantes de un programa Máster de la enseñanza de segunda lengua para su experiencia de estudio en el extranjero (EE). El investigador intenta observar la formación y la evolución de estas expectativas y, después del programa, la realización percibida de estas expectativas y sus posibles explicaciones. También espera ver la conexión entre la formación y realización de sus expectativas y estar en programa de enseñanza de segunda lengua. Además, se considera que esta investigación valdrá para evaluar informalmente la experiencia de EE provista por el programa de Másters en la enseñanza de segunda lengua y para arrojar más luz sobre qué expectativas son realistas para un programa de este tipo.

in English with English title of the thesis: Language of SMS and French as a foreign language The central topic of the thesis is the language of short text messages (SMS) and/or the one of chat and their application in teaching of French as a foreign language (fr. abbreviation F.L.E., français langue étrangère). The aim is to answer the question so as to how to grasp linguo- didactically this modern sociolect of young users (not only) of French, typical of written communication via digital technologies, with the purpose of the purely practical use in the classes of French. Firstly, a linguistic description will be given in order to understand the mechanisms of the explored language code not only in French, but also partly in Czech and English, as well as the determination of the position of the SMS language as a socio-cultural phenomenon in the present-day French. The following research will be dealing with the identification and the analysis of the teaching activities using the SMS language found in approximately fifty text books of French intended for the learners of levels A1, A2, B1, B2. The next section offers the theoretical evaluation of the exploitability of the SMS language in the classes of French, having as a point of reference specialised works of didactics of foreign languages. The...