Leiden University Student Repository

Steur, Suzanne de (2015)

Perspectives on the quality of English language proficiency. An explorative account of six Western European countries

Master thesis | Linguistics (MA)

This thesis investigates factors that logically influence the quality of English among Western European countries. The factors explored in this thesis are linguistic distance between the mother tongue and English, the effect of dubbing versus subtitling as well as teaching methods. The countries that will be looked at are the three Nordic countries of Finland, Norway and Sweden, as well as France, Germany and the Netherlands. The thesis is of a wide explorative nature and aims to provide data for future research into the situation in each of these countries. In doing so, this research includes extensive literature reviews on each of the three factors. In addition, empirical data were gathered by interviewing laymen, linguists as well as English language teachers from six Western European countries.

English language proficiency

Second language acquisition

Linguistic distance

Dubbing versus subtitling

Teaching methods

Author

Steur, Suzanne de

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Specialisation

English Language and Linguistics

Supervisors

Smakman, Dick

ECTS Credits

20

Language

en