AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SOCIETAL MOTIVATION TO MAINTAIN IRISH AND CLASSROOM MOTIVATION TO LEARN IRISH IN IRELAND

Using a qualitative lens, this study investigates the role the Irish language classroom plays in Irish language maintenance in the Republic o f Ireland. Data collected in the form of participant observation, questionnaires, and interviews provided the information needed to explore this question. The findings of this study suggest that most students view the Irish language as a school subject in which they must succeed in order to graduate. While they recognize the cultural significance of the language, they do not view Irish as a vehicle of communication in their daily lives. As a result, while students are learning Irish, the transmissibility o f the language following secondary school is very low. Furthermore, emerging from this study is the need for a full immersion setting of language learning where students are able to speak the language socially and experience how the Irish language can become a language of their daily lives

Expectations eclipsed in foreign language education: learners and educators on an ongoing journey / edited by Hülya Görür-Atabaş, Sharon Turner.

Between June 2-4, 2011 Sabancı University School of Languages welcomed colleagues from 21 different countries to a collaborative exploration of the challenging and inspiring journey of learners and educators in the field of language education.\ud \ud The conference provided an opportunity for all stakeholders to share their views on language education. Colleagues met with world-renowned experts and authors in the fields of education and psychology, faculty and administrators from various universities and institutions, teachers from secondary educational backgrounds and higher education, as well as learners whose voices are often not directly shared but usually reported.\ud \ud The conference name, Eclipsing Expectations, was inspired by two natural phenomena, a solar eclipse directly before the conference, and a lunar eclipse, immediately after. Learners and educators were hereby invited to join a journey to observe, learn and exchange ideas in orde

Conceptions of teaching and learning held by teachers of Mandarin and Cantonese in Chinese complementary schools in Scotland

The thesis explores Chinese teachers’ conceptions of teaching and learning Chinese at Chinese complementary schools in Scotland. The teachers taught either Cantonese or Mandarin, the two main Chinese languages spoken by Scotland’s Chinese communities; teaching took place on a voluntary basis at weekends; the teachers were drawn from a variety of occupations; most of the pupils were of Chinese ethnicity, with in addition some non-Chinese children. The research mainly draws on phenomenography, a research approach that investigates variation in conceptions of different phenomena as these appear to particular groups of people – in this case, teachers of Chinese in Scottish complementary schools. The variation refers to the different conceptions of teaching and learning that were identified in the group of teachers as a whole. Semi-structured interviews with each individual teacher were devised, conducted and analysed according to phenomenographic procedures. From the group as a whole six key conceptions of teaching were identified, and likewise six key conceptions of learning. In addition, the research focused on a smaller number of teachers in order to identify individual profiles in greater depth. The teacher interviews also elicited the metaphors that the teachers considered represented good teaching and learning. The interviews also served to identify the factors that the teachers considered had most influenced their conceptions, and they were complemented by qualitative classroom observations designed to identify factors that would allow the researcher to better understand the context in which the teachers had formed their conceptions. The findings showed that Mandarin and Cantonese teachers had much in common, but that also there were clear differences in particular areas that seemed to be explained both by differences in culture between Mandarin-speaking Mainland China and Cantonese-speaking Hong Kong, and also by emerging differences in power and status, with Mandarin assuming a dominant role and Cantonese showing some decline in numbers and in optimism, with some parents switching their children over from Cantonese to Mandarin. More generally, the findings suggested that the teachers were dedicated, adaptable, and different from the stereotypical perception of Chinese teachers of the sort that emphasises examinations, rote-learning and authoritarian teaching style. The teachers in the present study generally understood their pupils had multiple identities and they sought to teach in a child-centred way, and to help their pupils preserve moral values and a Chinese component of their identity through learning Chinese language and experiencing Chinese culture

Human engagement: The English language learning process of Korean university students in Canada.

This investigation of the process of English as an additional language (EAL) development of a group of 16 Korean university students spans their experiences in Korea and Canada. Data were collected from semi-structured interviews, written questionnaires and a final focus group interview. Systematic grounded theory informed data gathering and analysis, resulting in a diagrammatic representation and narrative description of the process. Target participants who had been in Canada an average of 4 years, 5 months reported speaking more Korean (55%) than English (44%) during the week and on the weekends (62% Korean, 37% English). The most salient moderators of English language engagement were instrumental motivation, absence of choice and age at leaving Korea. Interview data indicated that, through repeated, shared experiences in context, participants shifted from language knowledge gained predominantly through English grammar study and reading in the Korean setting to language use in the Canadian context. Acquisition was discussed as an experience-based, personally meaningful and lasting type of language learning. Paper copy at Leddy Library: Theses & Major Papers - Basement, West Bldg. / Call Number: Thesis2006 .W56. Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-07, Section: A, page: 2436. Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Windsor (Canada), 2006

Family language stories and second language learning : an ethnographic study of the influence of perceptions of family language history on second language learning

This research explores students’ stories about their family language histories and aims to understand how their understanding and perception of such stories influence their learning of Mandarin as a second language. Family language stories include accounts of family origins, background, and attitudes and practices with respect to language learning. My research is a qualitative, ethnographic study underpinned by the theoretical framework of constructivism. Case study is the method used to structure the research and collect the data. In this study, I focus on six Grade Six students who participated in a bilingual program offered by Morning Orchid Public School in Sydney, Australia in 2017. I interpret and analyse the relationship between these students’ family language stories and their Mandarin learning outcomes. I describe some of the ways this influence can take place. The family language stories of these students confirm my intuition that family language stories and children’s second language learning are related, as these students’ stories can be shown to have influenced their learning outcomes in the study of Mandarin as a second language in very particular ways, albeit not all in the same way. I have identified three important patterns of such family stories that appear to have a significant impact on learning outcomes, namely, ethnic identity, mimetic desire, and the level of family interest in Chinese culture

Telling the story of Jesus : the interrelationship of orality and Bible translation for the Angolar people

Master's thesis in global studies. VID Specialized University, Stavanger, May 2018submittedVersionMV 17 S

Interview Transcripts for LIN 200 Language in the US”

Language in the US (LIN 200), the most popular Linguistics course with nearly 800 students enrolling annually, is taught online every semester. A hallmark of the course is the large number of videos that we have created based on interviews that we conducted with leading experts in the field from around the world. We carefully edited the transcripts of these videos and use the transcripts as a text to accompany the course

English Is It! (ELT Training Series). Vol. 10

Grup de treball ICE-UB:From English Acquisition to English Learning and Teachin