A corpus-driven error analysis of the oral and written production of Leaving Certificate Spanish learners

The Leaving Certificate (LC) is the national, standardised state examination in Ireland necessary for entry to third level education – this presents a massive, raw corpus of data with the potential to yield invaluable insight into the phenomena of learner interlanguage. With samples of official LC Spanish examination data, this project has compiled a digitised corpus of learner Spanish comprised of the written and oral production of 100 candidates. This corpus was then analysed using a specific investigative corpus technique, Computer-aided Error Analysis (CEA, Dagneaux et al, 1998). CEA is a powerful apparatus in that it greatly facilitates the quantification and analysis of a large learner corpus in digital format. The corpus was both compiled and analysed with the use of UAM Corpus Tool (O’Donnell 2013). This Tool allows for the recording of candidate-specific variables such as grade, examination level, task type and gender, therefore allowing for critical analysis of the corpus as one unit, as separate written and oral sub corpora and also of performance per task, level and gender. This is an interdisciplinary work combining aspects of Applied Linguistics, Learner Corpus Research and Foreign Language (FL) Learning. Beginning with a review of the context of FL learning in Ireland and Europe, I go on to discuss the disciplinary context and theoretical framework for this work and outline the methodology applied. I then perform detailed quantitative and qualitative analyses before going on to combine all research findings outlining principal conclusions. This investigation does not make a priori assumptions about the data set, the LC Spanish examination, the context of FLs or of any aspect of learner competence. It undertakes to provide the linguistic research community and the domain of Spanish language learning and pedagogy in Ireland with an empirical, descriptive profile of real learner performance, characterising learner difficulty.

A Linguistic Analysis of the Written Production of Second Language Learners : The Variation of Article Usage by Adult Chinese Learners of English

This study aims to test Robertson’s lexical transfer principle, which posits that Chinese learners use demonstratives (particularly this) and the numeral one as markers of definiteness and indefiniteness. This is tested by analysing Chinese learners’ written production collected from the Spoken and Written English Corpus of Chinese Learners 2.0 (SWECCL 2.0). The purpose is to understand the variation of article usage by adult Chinese learners of English. More specifically, the study examines to what extent articles, possessive and demonstrative pronouns are used in Chinese learners’ English and how definite and indefinite articles are used by the Chinese learners. Findings suggest that Robertson’s lexical transfer principle was corroborated by the present study. In addition, Chinese learners prefer to use demonstrative determiners, the possessive determiner our, and the numeral one to perform the function of marking definiteness and indefiniteness. In particular, the learners try to use the demonstrative determiners that and this in the anaphoric function instead of the definite article, and the demonstrative determiner those is frequently used in the cataphoric function. What is more, the learners use the numeral one as a marker of indefiniteness, and it is also used as a marker of definiteness in the anaphoric function. Further, the possessive determiner our is used as a marker of definiteness in larger situation uses referring to something unique. To this end, the study is able to show that the definite article is used to perform the function of marking indefiniteness, and in some particular contexts the definite article functions as a Chinese specifier in Chinese learners’ English. Also, the indefinite article is frequently used in quantifier phrases but is rarely used in other functions. There are three main reasons that may explain why Chinese learners use determiners variously. Firstly, the choice of determiners by Chinese learners is influenced by linguistic contexts. Secondly, because of learning strategies, Chinese learners try to ignore the anaphoric function and cataphoric function that they are not yet ready to process in article usage. Thirdly, interlanguage grammar influences the optionality in the use of articles. 

Visual stimuli and written production of deaf signers

PURPOSE: To verify the interference of visual stimuli in written production of deaf signers with no complaints regarding reading and writing. METHODS: The research group consisted of 12 students with education between the 4th and 5th grade of elementary school, with severe or profound sensorineural hearing loss, users of LIBRAS and with alphabetical writing level. The evaluation was performed with pictures in a logical sequence and an action picture. The analysis used the communicative competence criteria. RESULTS: There were no differences in the writing production of the subjects for both stimuli. In all texts there was no title and punctuation, verbs were in the infinitive mode, there was lack of cohesive links and inclusion of created words. CONCLUSION: The different visual stimuli did not affect the production of texts.

Analysing written production competence descriptors for academic and professional purposes and their calibration to the CEFR

The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) "describes in a comprehensive way what language learners have to learn to do in order to use a language for communication and what knowledge and skills they have to develop so as to be able to act effectively" (Council of Europe, 2001: 1). This paper reports on the findings of two studies whose purpose was to assess written production competence descriptors meant for their inclusion into the Academic and Professional English Language Portfolio KELP) for students of engineering and architecture. The main objective of these studies was to establish whether the language competence descriptors were a satisfactory valid tool in their language programmes from the point of view of clarity, relevance and reliability, as perceived by the students and fellow English for Academic Purposes (RAP) / English for Science and Technology (EST) instructors. The studies shed light on how to improve unsatisfactory descriptors. Results show that the final descriptor lists were on the whole well calibrated and fairly well written: the great majority was considered valid for both teachers and students involved.

A pertinência da produção dos gêneros orais nas aulas do 6 ao 9 ano do ensino fundamental

Esta dissertação se propõe a analisar e a dimensionar a relevância que as propostas de produção de texto oral recebem nos livros didáticos do 6 ao 9 ano do Ensino Fundamental selecionados e indicados pelo Ministério da Educação, em seu Guia do Programa Nacional do Livro Didático (PNLD), em contraste com as de produção escrita. Também analisa a adequação dos gêneros textuais trabalhados em tais propostas, tendo em vista a preparação do aluno para o exercício da cidadania e a participação no mercado de trabalho por meio do domínio da linguagem oral, conforme orientação dos Parâmetros Curriculares Nacionais (PCN). Na impossibilidade de se analisarem todas as coleções indicadas no referido documento, optou-se por selecionar as duas mais frequentemente adotadas nas escolas públicas em todo o território nacional. Cumpre ressaltar que os PCN, documento oficial que apresenta um conjunto de orientações teóricas e metodológicas para o ensino de Língua Portuguesa, colocam em evidência o estudo dos gêneros textuais como um dos eixos do trabalho com a língua materna e têm abrangência nacional naquilo que recomendam. O PNLD, por seu turno, garante a quase trinta milhões de alunos brasileiros do 6 ao 9 anos do Ensino Fundamental o acesso a livros didáticos de seis componentes curriculares, incluindo a Língua Portuguesa, daí a relevância da pesquisa. Os resultados da investigação apontam para uma menor relevância atribuída à oralidade nas coleções analisadas, apesar da consonância das obras com as orientações dos PCN, as quais recomendam que sejam priorizados os gêneros textuais da comunicação pública. O presente trabalho ainda sugere linhas de ação no ensino da língua materna, de modo a reforçar, no aluno, o uso de variedades linguísticas orais publicamente adequadas, visando à participação social mais ampla e legítima, às exigências do mercado de trabalho e à realização plena do indivíduo que pensa e tem necessidade prática de exprimir seus anseios

Concepções de texto e a correção de produção escrita no ensino fundamental.

O objetivo desta dissertação é verificar, de forma teórico-conceitual, como as escolhas do professor sobre o objeto da produção textual estão pautadas em documentos oficiais, tendo como base os estudos linguísticos ou a gramática normativa. Busca-se refletir sobre a abordagem que atualmente é encontrada no ensino da Língua Portuguesa, uma visão preponderantemente voltada para a interação discursiva, tendo como objetivo o estudo da textualidade e dos diferentes gêneros textuais. Como tal abordagem trabalha com o texto de forma reduzida, pois não considera o que é dito, mas atribui maior importância a estrutura do texto, o ensino acaba por não considerar o sujeito do discurso. Para entender a linha teórica escolhida pelos documentos oficiais e que acabam por refletir na prática do professor, realiza-se uma análise dos principais documentos oficiais que servem como base ao processo de ensino-aprendizagem (Parâmetros Curriculares Nacionais, Diretrizes Curriculares e Matrizes de Referência do Sistema de Avaliação da Educação Básica) e uma comparação com dados da histórica do ensino de Língua Portuguesa e da teoria do currículo, buscando relacionar o paradigma de educação Moderno e o Pós-moderno com as práticas em sala de aula.

Para um modelo ontogenético da escrita infantil no 1.º ciclo de ensino básico : a emergência do período como unidade de organização textual

Tese de doutoramento, Linguística (Linguística Aplicada), Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Letras, 2015

Escrever para aprender no 1.º ciclo do ensino básico – sequência didática de textos expositivos

Relatório de Estágio apresentado à Escola Superior de Educação de Lisboa para obtenção de grau de mestre em Ensino do 1.º e do 2.º Ciclo do Ensino Básico

Favoriser le transfert de connaissances grammaticales en situation d'écriture : mise à l'essai d'une séquence didactique auprès d'élèves de troisième secondaire

Cette recherche-action vise à déterminer par quels moyens les enseignants de français peuvent contribuer à favoriser le transfert de connaissances grammaticales en situation d’écriture chez leurs élèves de niveau secondaire. Nous avons d’abord constaté que, chez les élèves du secondaire en général, les accords sont plus facilement réussis en contexte d’exercice qu’en contexte de production écrite. Sur la base de propositions didactiques pertinentes concernant l’orthographe grammaticale et/ou le transfert de connaissances, propositions fondées notamment sur une approche inductive, centrée sur le questionnement de l’élève et sur l’analyse de phrases, nous avons conçu et élaboré une séquence didactique portant sur l’accord du participe passé employé avec être ou avec un verbe attributif. Dans un deuxième temps, nous l’avons mise à l’essai auprès d’un groupe d’élèves de troisième secondaire, puis nous en avons vérifié les effets à l’aide d’un prétest et d’un posttest composés respectivement d’un questionnaire, d’un exercice et d’une production écrite. Les résultats révélés par l’analyse des données démontrent l’efficacité de la série de cours. En effet, le taux moyen de réussite des accords en contexte d’exercice passe de 53% à 75%, alors que, pour les productions écrites, il est de 48% avant la série de cours contre 82% après. Les questionnaires recueillis nous portent à attribuer en partie cette forte augmentation du taux de réussite des accords en contexte de production écrite au bon déroulement du processus de transfert grâce au travail effectué en cours de séquence sur les connaissances conditionnelles.

L’erreur lexicale au secondaire : analyse d’erreurs lexicales d’élèves de 3e secondaire et description du rapport à l’erreur lexicale d’enseignants de français

Cette recherche vise à décrire 1) les erreurs lexicales commises en production écrite par des élèves francophones de 3e secondaire et 2) le rapport à l’erreur lexicale d’enseignants de français (conception de l’erreur lexicale, pratiques d’évaluation du vocabulaire en production écrite, modes de rétroaction aux erreurs lexicales). Le premier volet de la recherche consiste en une analyse d’erreurs à trois niveaux : 1) une description linguistique des erreurs à l’aide d’une typologie, 2) une évaluation de la gravité des erreurs et 3) une explication de leurs sources possibles. Le corpus analysé est constitué de 300 textes rédigés en classe de français par des élèves de 3e secondaire. L’analyse a révélé 1144 erreurs lexicales. Les plus fréquentes sont les problèmes sémantiques (30%), les erreurs liées aux propriétés morphosyntaxiques des unités lexicales (21%) et l’utilisation de termes familiers (17%). Cette répartition démontre que la moitié des erreurs lexicales sont attribuables à une méconnaissance de propriétés des mots autres que le sens et la forme. L’évaluation de la gravité des erreurs repose sur trois critères : leur acceptation linguistique selon les dictionnaires, leur impact sur la compréhension et leur degré d’intégration à l’usage. Les problèmes liés aux registres de langue sont généralement ceux qui sont considérés comme les moins graves et les erreurs sémantiques représentent la quasi-totalité des erreurs graves. Le troisième axe d’analyse concerne la source des erreurs et fait ressortir trois sources principales : l’influence de la langue orale, la proximité sémantique et la parenté formelle entre le mot utilisé et celui visé. Le second volet de la thèse concerne le rapport des enseignants de français à l’erreur lexicale et repose sur l’analyse de 224 rédactions corrigées ainsi que sur une série de huit entrevues menées avec des enseignants de 3e secondaire. Lors de la correction, les enseignants relèvent surtout les erreurs orthographiques ainsi que celles relevant des propriétés morphosyntaxiques des mots (genre, invariabilité, régime), qu’ils classent parmi les erreurs de grammaire. Les erreurs plus purement lexicales, c’est-à-dire les erreurs sémantiques, l’emploi de termes familiers et les erreurs de collocation, demeurent peu relevées, et les annotations des enseignants concernant ces types d’erreurs sont vagues et peu systématiques, donnant peu de pistes aux élèves pour la correction. L’évaluation du vocabulaire en production écrite est toujours soumise à une appréciation qualitative, qui repose sur l’impression générale des enseignants plutôt que sur des critères précis, le seul indicateur clair étant la répétition. Les explications des enseignants concernant les erreurs lexicales reposent beaucoup sur l’intuition, ce qui témoigne de certaines lacunes dans leur formation en lien avec le vocabulaire. Les enseignants admettent enseigner très peu le vocabulaire en classe au secondaire et expliquent ce choix par le manque de temps et d’outils adéquats. L’enseignement du vocabulaire est toujours subordonné à des tâches d’écriture ou de lecture et vise davantage l’acquisition de mots précis que le développement d’une réelle compétence lexicale.

“The Ministry of Obligation warns”: it is necessary to protect the sexual offender adolescents

This text deals with a part of the research-action “Multifamiliar groups with sexual offender adolescents” and emphasizes the written production of the adolescents during the process. two texts were involved: the first one was a letter addressed to the parents and the second was an evaluation of the multifamiliar group. Seven adolescents between 14 and 17 years old wrote the texts. About the first text we discussed: the adolescent as responsible for the domestic work; the adolescent and his need to receive support and protection and the adolescent and the recognition of his growth phase. about the second text: the feelings of the adolescent regarding sexual abuse; the relation with the institution that carries out the intervention; the symbols that identify his ambivalence. We comment about the sexual abuse practiced by these adolescents as from two main points: the adolescence seen as a development phase and the role played by the family in the conduction of this phase.

Por dentro da sala de aula de professores de língua portuguesa: um estudo sobre a produção escrita

O presente trabalho discutiu as práticas de ensino da Língua Portuguesa nos Cursos Técnicos Integrados de Nível Médio em Agropecuária e Agroindústria do Instituto Federal de Sergipe – IFS / Campus São Cristóvão. Ao longo da investigação, realizada durante o ano de 2010, foram aplicados roteiros de entrevistas a alunos e professores da disciplina no instituto, com o propósito de mensurar e qualificar o índice de aproveitamento dos estudantes na aquisição da competência textual (produção escrita). Cabe destacar que esse procedimento foi antecedido de uma pesquisa exploratória, a qual norteou os rumos da investigação. Esta, por sua vez, teve por objetivo maior propor, mediante confronto com os resultados da prática de produção escrita dos alunos e dos documentos em arquivos, um quadro de estratégias para o desenvolvimento da referida competência. Na análise e discussão dos dados coletados, pôdese perceber que, no cotidiano das atividades de aprendizado da língua materna, muitos dos nossos alunos apresentaram-se interessados pelas práticas desenvolvidas, modo contínuo, de um lado; de outro, alguns manifestaram resistência às práticas de produção oral e escrita. Ademais, pôde-se igualmente perceber que os estudantes compreendem e “avaliam” as dificuldades por que passa o Instituto e sugerem a adoção de novas metodologias por parte dos professores. Como consequência do estudo, constatou-se que já existe um domínio de produção escrita por parte desses estudantes, todavia, a investigação detectou a necessidade do aprimoramento das técnicas e práticas em sala de aula, com o fim de melhorar o desempenho dos estudantes.

Autoria e escrita: uma reflexão acerca do autorar em memórias de leituras de alunos de 9º ano do ensino fundamental

This paper presents results concerning studies conducted during the master's research in the area of Applied Linguistics of the Graduate Program in Language Studies - PPgEL, linked to the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte. We approached this study the question of authorship, which has gained ground increasingly important in academic research, because the act of authoring, in view of the amount of circulating discourses socially, becomes increasingly questionable. We understand authorship as related to a positioning of the subject than to take responsibility, in the Bakhtinian sense, by its text, it makes their views, ideologies, beliefs and values, from ownership and restructuring of the speech of others. This research is methodologically inserted in a qualitative, interpretive in nature and has a corpus analysis of the ten productions written memoir genre of readings produced by students in 9th grade in elementary school. Research aimed to analyze the students' written productions held in the school environment, to identify these texts marks or evidence of authorship and investigate how the restructuring of ownership and voices of others in the process of authoring. We adopt a concept of language from bakhitinianas concepts and understand the text in a vision Geraldiana. The analyzes in this study showed that in most texts there is the strong presence of voices of others, either implicitly and/or explicit. That is, students, to build their sayings, if embraced the voices of others in various formats, in particular styles, namely, by what Bakhtin names as linear style and pictorial style. Some proved his statement highlighting their positions through direct quotes from authors of books, family, teachers, showing us that their voices are filled with voices of others with whom they approve, deny, analyze, think and reflect. We therefore conclude that students were constituted as subjects of their texts, authors, since they leave marked the voices of others so presentified and restructured voices of others who do not actually sounded like voices of others, but as present voices from a discursive restructuring producer

A escrita do texto acadêmico na graduação: modos de utilização de conceitos teóricos de uma área de conhecimento

In this study we have developed a discussion about academic text production in the undergraduate course of Literature and Languages. Specifically, we are going to analyze the monographic text writing in order to verify the meaning effects created from the ways of showing other s discourses that constitute a written production. As a means to do that, we are going to answer the following question: How does a young researcher make use of a theory in order to be part of a particular scientific community? We aim to: 1) analyze the linguistic resources, like quotations and signs of cohesion that demonstrate the other s voice presence in academic writing; 2) observe the meaning effects produced through the ways that the one who writes shows the other s voice in the written text. Firstly, we have selected 23 (twentythree) monographs produced in the last five years by students from a Literature and Languages undergraduate course in a determined public university. However, in this study, we have analyzed just 02 (two) different monographic texts. To develop such an investigation, we have inquired Kuhn s concept of science, which shows the existence of different meanings of science production in the course of the centuries. It allows us to define academic writing as science production that develops and contributes to knowledge production. With the purpose of restricting the meaning of writing conception, we have relied on Coracini, who assumes that all writing production is the registration of the self, in other words, writing comes from the subject s intervention, it is to say that only an imposition of the self guarantees the subject as author of what he writes. We have as theoretical basis the following concepts: 1-) Authier-Revus s enunciative heterogeneity, that allowed us to analyze the written marks of the other in the monographic writing; 2-) Pêcheux s reformulation-paraphrase and Orlandi s polysemy and paraphrase, concepts that present notions of productivity and creativity as ways of meaning production, and allows us to observe how the process of language production in academic writing is established; 3-) Rossi-Landi s concept of exchange-value and use-value, which consider language as a linguistic work, allowing us to verify the differences between use and social functionality in a determined theory; and 4-) Possenti s notion of authorship indicia, with which we have identified attitudes that make the one who writes author of his own text. We have verified that writing characterized for repetition and reproduction may develop a meaning effect that constructs the idea that writing production promotes an author, a concept or a theory. We have also realized that a written text that restricts itself to reproduce other authors discourses and does not articulate a theory with data analysis or with work methodology, when evaluated is approved and legitimates itself as scientific production. That demonstrates the existence of academic productions that do not develop any functionality of the employed theory. The text works as a means to promote its theoretical concepts, and theory. It is to say that the theoretical foundantion, which usually is a way to argue and sustain scientific production, does not have any function. Thus, we consider that the way someone shows the other s discourse in academic writing may work as a way to underline what the other asserts to the detriment of the researcher s words. This fact allows us to comprehend that a way of writing may evidence a meaning effect of the author s, theory s or theoretical concepts promotion