The Applicability of Speech Act Analysis to Course Evaluation: A Small-Scale Pilot Study

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Alison Devine, Edge Hill University, UK

Abstract

The current paper has both a substantive and methodological focus. Substantively, it finds that the online discussion board postings of students enrolled on a postgraduate certificate in teaching and learning display evidence of students’ applying course studies in their workplace, but that these displays are mostly limited to comments regarding their own physical activities and (affective) approaches, rather than any attempt to disseminate their learning any more widely. Methodologically then, this paper argues that speech act analysis (SAA) can be of partial use to the course evaluator who is seeking evidence of an impact on practice as one means of triangulating data, but that there are three types of evidence of impact on practice apparent in the students’ online postings and a detailed understanding of these types can aid in enhancing student learning.
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Cross-Linguistic Teamwork from the Students’ Perspective

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Eva Maria Unterrainer, University of Innsbruck, Austria

Abstract

Since 2002 the “Innsbruck Model of Fremdsprachendidaktik” (IMoF — Innsbruck Model of Foreign Language Teaching) has been practicing new approaches in (foreign) language teacher education by offering for all future (foreign) language teachers one integrated program of multilingual training. This means that students of English, French, Greek/Latin, Italian, Russian and Spanish attend together multilingual courses, which are complemented by workshops for each language. With its multilingual and team-oriented lessons, IMoF intends to promote cooperation among prospective foreign language teachers in schools. Therefore, during one semester students have to work together in cross-linguistic teams in order to analyze learning materials; i.e. they transfer the lecture’s input into practice. This paper examines teamwork from the students’ perspective by presenting quantitative data and at drawing initial implications for university teaching.
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