Results found: 2

Search results

Sort By:

Limit search:

Chinese Teachers' Attitudes Towards Translanguaging and its Uses in Portuguese Foreign Language Classrooms

100%

Pinto J.

Theory and Practice of Second Language Acquisition

2020

vol. 6

issue 1

11-30

Recent research has shown that L1 use can serve important cognitive, communicative, and social functions in communicative foreign and second language learning (Turnbull & Dailey-O’Cain, 2009). In the context of Chinese universities, Meij and Zhao (2010) argue that is widespread agreement among administrators that the L1 should not be used in L2 classrooms. Both teachers and students should follow this norm. However, in their study, they found that translanguaging practice is perceived by teachers and students as a useful approach to achieve desired learning outcomes. Other studies (Cai & G. Cook, 2015; Littlewood & Fang, 2011) show that teachers use the L1 in L2 class to specific functions: addressing personal needs, giving direction in class, managing class, and ensuring student understanding. The aim of this paper is to present a study about university teachers' attitudes towards and uses of translanguaging in Portuguese foreign language classrooms. The participants involved are 31 Chinese teachers (n=31), all native speakers of Mandarin, in mainland China. They answered a questionnaire that aims to get information related to the importance that teachers assign on different uses of translanguaging. Findings indicated that the majority of the teachers believe that the use of the students’ L1, by the teacher or by students, could improve Portuguese learning in various ways, especially in the first levels.

Immersion learning activities: developing communicative tasks in the community

100%

Pinto J.

Theory and Practice of Second Language Acquisition

2018

vol. 4

issue 1

This paper examines the out-of-class Portuguese language teaching activities for foreign students learning Portuguese at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Lisbon and their results in the output of learners. Even in contexts of immersion, students have a tendency to focus only on class activities and not on community activities that involve face-to-face contact with native speakers. To change this situation, we have created a new subject, built on task-based language teaching, called "Immersion Activities", for the Portuguese Foreign Language Annual Course. We present the preliminary results of a study carried out with eighty students and twelve teachers, whose objective is to verify up to what extent this subject translates into a more effective learning of the language and if students' perceptions, at the end of the semester, regarding the learning outcomes, coincide or not with those of the teachers. From the results, it is possible to observe that the students’ and teachers’ opinions converge in the same sense: immersion activities provide a better development of students' communicative competence in Portuguese.

Refine search results

2 Theory and Practice of Second Language Acquisition

2 Pinto J.

1 2020

1 2018

Search results

Chinese Teachers' Attitudes Towards Translanguaging and its Uses in Portuguese Foreign Language Classrooms

Immersion learning activities: developing communicative tasks in the community