Participation and Attitudes: An Exploratory Look into the Current Ontario French as a Second Language Program at the Secondary School Level

Cet article vise à étudier les perceptions et les attitudes des intervenants clés tels que les élèves, les parents et les enseignants dans le programme de FLS de l’Ontario, et les impacts potentiels que ces attitudes pourraient avoir sur la participation future à l’apprentissage du FLS dans les écoles secondaires de la province. Il examine également certaines pratiques d’enseignement et d’apprentissage dominantes en relation avec le développement des programmes de FLS en Ontario. Plus précisément, cet article tente de répondre aux trois questions suivantes : Comment le programme actuel de FLS de l’Ontario est-il perçu par certains intervenants clés ? Qu’est-ce qui peut influencer ces perceptions ? Quelles sont certaines des implications possibles pour l’avenir du FLS en Ontario, surtout en ce qui concerne la participation ? Les données analysées dans cet article proviennent des questionnaires qu’ont remplis les élèves, les parents et les enseignants de FLS. Ce travail de terrain a été effectué dans six écoles secondaires de trois conseils scolaires de l’Ontario, dont deux étaient catholiques et l’autre public.

The Implementation of Cipp Model in Evaluation MGMP Indonesian Language Program at Senior High School 11, Bekasi

Program evaluation is a form of mechanism used to review program processes that have been implemented over a certain period of time. The review is intended to understand, explore, and correct deficiencies in the program itself. This study was evaluation research using the CIPP model (Context, Input, Process, Product) developed by Stufflebeam. The evaluation subjects were organizer of MGMP, instructors and principal in SMAN 11, Bekasi. The evaluation was conduted in SMAN 11, Bekasi. The data obtained are presented in descriptive qualitative form. Interview, observation, and documentation were utilized as instruments to collect the data. The results of this evaluation reveal that the dimensions of MGMP program planning are generally quite good in terms of the specified context aspect criteria. The dimensions of human resource capacity in implementating the MGMP program have not been optimal in running the program based on the specified input aspect criteria. The dimension of the implementation of the MGMP program have not met all the elements of the process aspect criteria. The dimension of achievement of the MGMP program in improving professionalism of Indonesian language teachers at SMAN 11, Bekasi have been achieved based on the success indicators that have been determined in product aspect.Keywords: MGMP, Program Evaluation, CIPP.

Chinese Self, Australian Other: Chinese as a Foreign Language Teacher Identity Construction in Australian Contexts

Research in the field of Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) education has been increasing in the past decades. However, the number of studies on CFL teacher identity is limited. To bridge the gap, this study employed a qualitative method to explore Chinese CFL teachers’ identity formation and reformation in Australian contexts. A Chinese-Australian language program was studied to examine the challenges, struggles and developments of Chinese CFL teachers who came to Australia to pursue professional growth. Five Master’s theses and three interview participants were included to paint a picture of how Chinese CFL teachers interact internally and externally with a new environment. Guided by Mead’s theory of self and other, we found that Chinese CFL teachers’ identity formation and reformation in Australian classrooms are deeply influenced by their self-identification and their integration with others in the community. Cultural connectedness is a key for organizational attitudes in the relationship of self and other. Chinese CFL teachers were found lacking the wholeness of self in Australian contexts, which led to obstacles in teacher identity construction. Insufficient communication between self and other resulted in their positioning crisis.

Language Variation in Mandarin as a Heritage Language: Subject Personal Pronouns

Because of limited language input, different dominant languages, and learners’ differing backgrounds, the acquisition of heritage languages is distinguished from the acquisition of L1 and L2. Few studies of Chinese as a Heritage Language (CHL) have explored whether students can acquire native-like sociolinguistic competence and language-specific variables with educational input. Based on a sociolinguistic variationist perspective, this study investigates the acquisition of variation between null and overt subject personal pronouns (SPP s) by heritage learners in an undergraduate-level Mandarin program. A total of 11,970 tokens were collected through classroom observation, sociolinguistic interviews, and narratives. Measuring mixed-effects logistic regression with Rbrul (Johnson, 2009), results show that the overall usage pattern of SPP s by CHL students largely resembled that in the input provided by the language program. Results also demonstrate that linguistic constraints including coreference, person and number, and verb type, and social factors such as discourse context, first languages, course level, and age of arrival had a significant effect on SPP expression by CHL learners. Implications for CHL development and variationist studies in heritage languages are discussed.

Arabicization in Saudi Arabia: Procedures and Implementations

Educators and policymakers maintain that Arabicization is of paramount importance. The question, however, is why the Arabicization process has been lagging behind in almost all Arab countries and in Saudi Arabia particularly. This paper attempts to evaluate the planning process of Arabicization based on Haugen’s language planning model (Haugen, 1983) depicting the success in Arabic as a national language but its regression at an official level. Being the clearest language planning in KSA, it still has some problematic areas in terms of its proper implementation. It incorporates distinct steps; the identification of financial resources, creating time schedules for conclusion, and the evaluation and assessments. This research begins with an introduction to Haugen’s language planning model (1983) and its basic elements. Moreover, some historical foundations including the objectives of language planning are investigated. Activities of Arabizing language planning are explored as well as the effects of globalization on Arabizing language outlining. The argument here is situated on the exploration of the Saudi language program and supporting legislative records. This paper tackles the questions of implementation in the light of its failures and successes as far as the Saudi policy is concerned.

A CEFR BASED EVALUATION OF B1+ LEVEL PREPARATORY PROGRAM AT A TURKISH STATE UNIVERSITY: THE APPLICATION OF THE FOREIGN LANGUAGE SKILLS SCALE

Despite the centrality of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) in language teaching and assessment, studies investigating its learning outcomes in language program evaluations are quite scarce. This paper aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a modular English preparatory school program through the Foreign Language Skills Scale. The research sample consists of 357 preparatory school students having attained B1+ level of proficiency in the program. The results revealed that while the language program designed to be in line with the CEFR guidelines, in general, serves for the needs of the students, there are still some discrepancies between the learning outcomes of B1+ and opinions of students about their competencies, especially in listening sub-skills.

Developing English for Specific Purposes (ESP) Courses in IT: A Narrative Experience of the Universidad Técnica Nacional

The importance of English and technology for the workplace increases the need of higher education schools to develop and promote English for specific purpose (ESP) programs that provide students with both effective communication competences and digital skills to prepare them for their professional development. Consequently, it has become a great challenge for English educators to look for innovative techniques to improve these two competences based on the activities that are relevant and typical to their profession and context. The preset work aims to share a one-year experience in the design and development of three-course program on English for technology, for the English as a Second Language Program at Universidad Técnica Nacional.