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Abstract: Global occurrences in recent times have highlighted the degeneration of conversation and relationships at all levels, and the ways that education might disrupt such harmful grammars of engagement have been explored by scholars writing in the field of intercultural communicative competence and language teaching. However, discussions about the applications of intercultural communication in language teaching contexts are often entrenched in the language of models, competence, and evaluation—approaches which are often inattentive to how “you” and “I” make up the “we” from which our shared existence emerges (Smith, 2003). This study inquires into the complexities and possibilities of teaching intercultural communication within a task-based ESL curriculum framework. It contends that meaningful language-learning may benefit from fuller considerations of ethical and relational understandings of the self in relation to others. Theoretically informed by hermeneutics and African wisdom, this study is guided by the question of our ethical obligations to others, and it theorizes a relational ethics of intercultural communication for ESL curriculum and instruction that begins with an onto-epistemological shift in our current understanding of what it means to learn and teach a language. It introduces a curriculum for intercultural learning that prepares students to engage ethically in a shared, intercultural world and considers the discursive elements of identity that shape intercultural encounters. Following a 3-year-long biweekly conversation with instructors on the topic of intercultural communication in a Canadian post-secondary setting, this study was conducted as a first step toward curriculum re-envisioning in the research context. Five ESL instructors participated in the study, and data were collected over a 2-month timespan through semi-structured individual and focus group interviews and interpreted using a hermeneutic paradigm. Grounded in Gadamer’s philosophical hermeneutics and African wisdom traditions, this research draws on hermeneutic inquiry, “the practice and theory of interpretation” (Chesla, 1995), as a means of developing an understanding of the challenges and possibilities of teaching intercultural communication alongside this study’s participants. As both a theoretical framework and a strategy for doing research, hermeneutics is concerned with the interpretation and understanding of the interconnected human condition and the many ways that understanding presents itself (Gadamer, 1976). Hermeneutic interpretation considers how the concepts of place, dialogue, and belonging shape how we come to know. This understanding informed both the interviewing and the curriculum re-envisioning in this study. Interpretation therefore unfolded in dialogue with participants in order to come to a relational and referential understanding of what it means to engage in intercultural communication in ESL pedagogy and curricula. I deploy a hermeneutic understanding of language as a worldview to interpret the ways in which coming to know a new language is also about coming to know a way of entering a new world (Aoki, 1999). Findings from the study align with the recent understanding in the language teaching field that intercultural communication is shaped by discursive elements of identity. Research participants identified race, religion, gender, and sexuality as aspects of identity that required more explicit attention in current ESL curricula and instruction. They also cited time constraints, expectations to cover course content, concerns about creating uncomfortable classroom environments, a lack of intercultural objectives, and inadequate curricular materials as some challenges of teaching intercultural communication in ESL classrooms. The findings lead to my discussion of ways in which the field may reimagine concepts of time, language, and language tasks so as to be more ethically responsive to cultural plurality and the commonalities and differences in our shared world. The study contributes to existing English language teaching scholarship by revealing limitations of task-based learning and communicative competence. It further introduces an alternative relational framework for thinking about the goals of an intercultural curriculum of language learning in higher education settings. This curriculum points to the need to engage with students’ lived experiences and addresses the lack of teachers’ voices in the literature by legitimizing the wisdom in the lived stories of instructors who dwell within the landscape of ESL instruction (Aoki, 1991/2005). The significance of this study lies in its potential to shape what is possible within language teaching and learning, in-service teacher training, and curriculum development. Keywords: ESL, intercultural communication, hermeneutics, language teaching

Technology-Mediated Task-Based Language Teaching is the combination of technology with Task-Based Language Teaching (González-Lloret & Ortega, 2014) and emphasizes authentic communication and holistic language learning opportunities in Second Language Acquisition. Since its introduction almost thirty-five years ago, Task-Based Language Teaching has received widespread attention from researchers in the fields of Second Language education due to its collaborative nature and the interaction and negotiation of meaning that result from its implementation (Robinson, 2011). Task-Based Language Teaching represents a paradigm shift of mainstream views about language teaching from a focus on ‘knowledge of language’ to a pragmatic and experiential focus on ‘achiev[ing] communicative purposes’ (Scarino & Liddicoat, 2009, p. 45). Still, relatively few studies have addressed grammar acquisition in online courses from a Task-Based perspective. The present study sought to examine the effects of an online Task-Based Language Teaching module on the acquisition of direct and indirect object pronouns in Spanish. These grammatical structures are used very frequently by native Spanish speakers, but are less used by Spanish learners because of their difficulty. The main problem is that object clitics in Spanish normally create a structure that appears to be (Subject)-Object-Verb. This can be especially difficult for native speakers of English since these speakers are accustomed to Subject-Verb-Object. Furthermore, Spanish indirect object pronouns look exactly like direct object pronouns except for the third person singular and plural. Hence, learning how to use and distinguish between the direct object and indirect object pronouns is challenging. The results of this study demonstrate the benefits of using an online Task-Based Language Teaching module specially designed for the acquisition of direct and indirect object pronouns in Spanish. Participants in the experimental group used the target structures on many occasions, and their results exceeded those of the control group—the mean of the experimental group was 7.50, whereas the mean of the control group was 1.23. Similarly, students in the experimental group also produced five times more instances of the target structures than students in the control group in an identical final exam activity that both groups had to complete—3.22 vs 0.64, respectively. Thus, the data obtained in this study manifest that technology-mediated TBLT can be particularly valuable in the acquisition of L2 grammar.

This thesis provides an overview of the major policies in the United States that have affected second language teaching. Then, it examines the debate that exists between two popular instructional methods of language teaching: bilingual education and English immersion. This thesis provides a case analysis of California's Proposition 227 of 1998, which mandated the use of English immersion as an instructional method in the state of California. The analysis examines the different language ideologies used by the policy advocates who were for or against the initiative.

This study investigated learning teaching in the Ann Arbor Languages Partnership (A2LP), a partnership between Ann Arbor Public School District and the School of Education at U of M to bring Spanish instruction to elementary classrooms. A2LP prepares undergraduates from different programs, called Apprentice Teachers (ATs), for Spanish teaching. The theoretical framework suggests learning teaching is a socially rooted process, taking place as learners internalize their programs’ social activity. This activity is organized around common understandings or ‘social facts’ functioning as frameworks of reference for participants, who through their use make sense of their experiences and organize their practice. The study explored: a) What are the ‘social facts’ characterizing the activity of A2LP?; b) How do the Apprentice Teachers in A2LP use ‘social facts’ over time to make sense of their experiences?; c) How do the Apprentice Teachers in A2LP conceive of second language teaching and use those conceptions in organizing Spanish teaching? A qualitative approach, with participant observer perspective was adopted to understand from participants’ perspectives the experiences of learning second language teaching. Data collection involved “naturally occurring texts” by instructors and ATs during 2014-2015. A grounded analysis was conducted examining instructional materials and ATs’ responses to seminar prompts. In-depth analysis of naturally occurring texts from an eight-ATs sample was conducted using APPRAISAL analysis, capturing how through the use of language ATs presented their ideas, feelings and values towards second language teaching. Findings shown ‘social facts’ of A2LP representing four themes: a) roles of ATs; b) practices of Spanish teaching; c) elementary students’ language learning; and d) positive/productive classroom climates. As ATs made sense of their experiences learning teaching and teaching Spanish, they adopted different perspectives following a curve of learning and increasing participation, going from a focus on the individual to a focus on the complexity of second language teaching and learning. APPRAISAL analysis shown emerging patterns in the ways ATs with a similar profiles oriented their teaching, defined their responsibilities and organized teaching. Four orientations to teaching were identified: the attention to students’ needs; ATs’ personal grow as teachers; the procedures of teaching; and collaboration between ATs

This study contributes to the empirical research on the use of literary texts in language learning. Specifically, it focuses on two groups of adult English language learners who are students at an American university as they read, write about, and discuss literature written by an author from the local area and which portrays the local culture in which the university is situated. This study seeks to examine how adopting an aesthetic stance can help foreign students, new to the university, evoke a wide range of responses and pay attention to language input and cultural context.

The issues relative to foreign accent continue to puzzle second language researchers, educators, and learners today. Although once thought to be at the root, maturational constraints have fallen short of definitively accounting for the myriad levels and rates of phonological attainment (Bialystok & Miller, 1999, p. 128). This study, a Posttest-only Control Group Design, examined how the pronunciation accuracy of adult, English language learners, as demonstrated by utterance length, was related to two input stimuli: auditory-only input and auditoryorthographic input. Utterance length and input modality were further examined with the added variables of native language, specifically Arabic and Spanish, and second language proficiency as defined by unofficial TOEFL Listening Comprehension and Reading Comprehension section scores. Results from independent t tests indicated a statistically significant difference in utterance length based on input modality (t(192) = -3.285. p = .001), while with the added variable of native language, factorial ANOVA results indicated no statistically significance difference for the population studied. In addition, multiple linear regression analyses examined input modality and second language proficiency as predictors of utterance length accuracy and revealed a statistically significant relationship (R 2 = .108, adjusted R 2 = .089, F(3, 144) = 5.805, p = .001), with 11% of the utterance length variance accounted for by these two factors predictors. Lastly, hierarchical regressions applied to two blocks of factors revealed statistical significance: (a) input modality/native language (R 2 = .069, adjusted R 2 = .048, F(2, 87) = 3.230, p = .044) and ListenComp (R 2 = .101, adjusted R 2 = .070, F(3, 86) = 3.232, p = .026), with ListenComp iv increasing the predictive power by 3%; (b) input modality/native language (R 2 = .069, adjusted R 2 = .048, F(2, 87) = 3.230, p = .044) and ReadComp (R 2 = .112, adjusted R 2 = .081, F(1, 86) = 3.629, p = .016), with ReadComp increasing the predictive power by 4%; and (c) input modality/native language (R 2 = .069, adjusted R 2 = .048, F(2, 87) = 3.230, p = .044) and ListenComp/ReadComp (R 2 = .114, adjusted R 2 = .072, F(2, 85) = 2.129, p = .035), with ListenComp/ReadComp increasing the predictive power by 4%. The implications of this research are that by considering issues relative to input modality and second language proficiency levels especially when teaching new vocabulary to adult second language learners, the potential for improved pronunciation accuracy is maximized. Furthermore, the heightened attention to the role of input modality as a cognitive factor on phonological output in second language teaching and learning may redirect the manner in which target language phonology is approached.

Abstract: Task basked language teaching (TBLT) is an innovative second language teaching approach that has gained abundant theoretical support from second language acquisition (SLA) research. However, there is evidence that the conceptions formed by teachers can differ from the descriptions and criteria found in research and published pedagogical materials. Therefore, this study addresses the following research questions: 1) What are the conceptions of TBLT among in-service teachers in Beijing? 2) How are the conceptions formed? 3) What factors will influence their utilization of TBLT? The results indicate that most of them had idiosyncratic conceptions of TBLT that diverge in several ways from “mainstream” versions of TBLT; however, most of them were able to design and implement tasks consistent with the published criteria. It is also found that the effects of peers and mentors, professional development training and school policy are significant in the formation of their conceptions of TBLT.

Research about translation as a learning tool and how it can help learners become aware and adjust to the perspective encoded in a second language is lacking in the literature. This study investigated whether translation helps learners acquire the perspective (different ways of seeing the world) encoded in a second language and thus communicate more effectively. Writings of native and non-native speakers were compared by means of an ANOVA test to see how they differed among each other before and after practice on how to write descriptions. In order to operationalize the concept of perspective and allow for assessment of the value of translation as a learning technique, the descriptions were analyzed with respect to information organization at the clause level in accordance with thematic structure as proposed by functional grammarians. Two groups of non-native speakers practiced how to write descriptions. The control group practiced writing descriptions by means of techniques currently used in second language teaching, while the experimental group’s practice was based on translation assignments. The study demonstrated that the experimental group proved to adjust to native-like ways of writing descriptions and thus to the perspective encoded in the second language, while the control group stayed basically the same. In addition, surveys were carried out to investigate learners’ opinions about the use of translation in the second language classroom. The results show that, generally speaking, learners have a positive view on the use of translation as a learning tool in the second language classroom.