Applied Linguistics Perspective Research Articles

Identity and standards for English as a European Union lingua franca

AbstractThis article addresses, from an applied linguistics perspective, the position English maintains among the myriad of languages spoken in the European Union (EU). The linguistic make‐up of EU society, as well as the language policy of the Union, is scrutinised. The role English is playing in European unification is also important for the discussion, as is the call for a re‐evaluation of the norms deployed in English language teaching. The linguistic nativisation currently taking place in mainland Europe, which indicates that English is functioning more as an Outer Circle rather than as an Expanding Circle language, is juxtaposed with these developments.

В поисках методологии обучения дисциплинам на английском языке в вузе

English Medium Instruction (EMI) — teaching/learning of content through English at a university — is currently gaining momentum worldwide, albeit it still lacks consensus regarding conceptualization and efficacious pedagogy and encounters a myriad of challenges at the implementation level. The latter prompt ed a host of researchers to voice concerns about its possible negative effects on content learning and overall educational quality. Current EMI conceptualization is primarily informed by the applied linguistics perspective. Drawing on the dialectical unity of language (word) and cognition (thought), the article presents recent and fruitful applications of Vygotsky’s ideas to foreign language teaching/learning praxis and suggests a symbiosis of two theoretical perspectives — the cultural historical theory and systemic functional linguistics — to inform teaching/learning in English-mediated contexts. The article shifts the focus from the most researched area in the EMI acronym, which is E (dealing with the English language issues), to I (Instruction) to suggest a potential conceptual and pedagogical solution to the EMI conundrum.

English as a Lingua Franca from an applied linguistics perspective: In the context of Japan

For the past two decades, the concept of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) has been a topic of much debate among researchers in the global use of English, including those involved in English language teaching (ELT). While in many respects ELF may be viewed just as a new name for its predecessors, such as World Englishes (WE) and English as an International Language (EIL), in other ways it also provides some fresh perspectives for the function of global Englishes. In particular, having grown chiefly out of Europe, where English has traditionally been studied as a foreign language rather than a second language, the ELF paradigm is often suited for the needs of learners of English in the Expanding Circle. With Japan as a primary example, the present paper discusses the significance of the concept of ELF and of the studies within its framework for ELT in the Expanding Circle. An important argument of this article is that studies in the early days of ELF, seeking for elements to facilitate international intelligibility, are still highly useful for ELT in the Expanding Circle. They cater especially to ELT in the Asian Expanding Circle, where pedagogical models are of crucial importance, no less than current ELF studies focusing on the fluid and translingual nature of ELF do. This paper points to the need for ELT teachers to be eclectic and integrative, learning from multiple paradigms, including ELF, WE, and EIL, while even going beyond the newness and oldness of pedagogical approaches, in order to best serve their students.

Affective Variables from the Applied Linguistics Perspective: A Study of the Saudi Undergraduate Students Majoring in English Language

The present study aimed at indicating the effect of the affective variables (motivation, attitude, self-confidence and willingness to communicate) on the acquisition and learning of English language among the students of Languages and Translation Departments in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The study participants were 40 students (20 males and 20 females) from the students specialized in English language. The study used three instruments: The semi-structured interview, affective variables questionnaire (AVQ) and English language proficiency observation checklist (ELPOC). The study adopted the quasi-experimental design mixed with the qualitative interpretation. The study employed the correlational analysis and the simple liner regression to indicate the relationship between the independent and dependant variables. The findings of the study showed that there is a positive significant relationship between the affective variables (motivation, attitude, self-confidence and willingness to communicate) and the process of English language acquisition as a second language. The study also demonstrated that the most influential factors in the learners' English language acquisition process is their willingness to communicate. Recommendations and suggestions based on the study results were directed to the L2 (EFL/ESL) instructors and all the specialists in English language acquisition and learning.

FORMING PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY IN POPULAR SCIENCE IT DISCOURSE: DISCURSIVE MARKERS AND THEIR FUNCTIONAL DIAPASON

Purpose: The article substantiates the necessity to include the concept of identity, in general, and professional identity, in particular, as an indispensable element of virtually every major scientific linguistic investigation, and provides the rationale behind current investigation by justifying the research subject from psychological, sociological, and applied-linguistic perspectives. Methodology: In order to meet the stated objectives of the research, the following methods of analysis have been chosen: continuous sampling method along with corpus data collection (in order to facilitate further data analysis and reduce measurement errors to a minimum); discourse analysis (to single out and scrutinise encountered discursive markers along with their functioning in the chosen discursive space); functional analysis (to figure out the functional diapason of the analysed discourse); statistical data analysis (to assess collected, explored and presented amount of data in order to discover the underlying trends and patterns). Result: All the discursive markers collaborate with one another, forming a strong synergistic effect in terms of both the functional scope of language units and the functional scope of professional identity formation. In conclusion, the combined functional diapason of those discursive markers in popular science IT discourses significantly contributes to the overall partial construction of non-specialist’s professional identity. Applications: This research can be used for universities, teachers, and students. Novelty/Originality: In this research, the model of Forming professional identity in popular science IT discourse is presented in a comprehensive and complete manner.

Applied linguistics perspective in developing reading material

Language teaching is a skill-based teaching aiming at the development of language skills and teaching tools are one of the important components of the teaching process in terms of the elements that will enable to increase the knowledge and experience related to the skill intended to be developed as the input source. Therefore, teaching tools should be designed in a way that allows access to the targeted development level, taking into account the nature of the intended skill area and the nature of language processing. As known, reading is a process of mental decoding, where many processes related to each other are performed simultaneously in order to gain access to the deep meaning of the text from the moment the interaction begins and this process is based on the background knowledge of the individual's experiences and the mechanics of the language components. Accordingly, for the development of reading skills, knowledge of phonological, semantic, morphological, and syntactic systems must be fully acquired, and these systems must function in integrated manner. In this respect, the teaching tools prepared for the purpose of developing reading skills should be designed in accordance with the principles of general training material’s development and taking into account the structure of the reading action itselft. In this sense, the aim of the study is to provide a theoretical perspective on the possible qualifications of the teaching tools that will be used for the development of reading skill, based on the studies of the field of applied linguistics related to the reading comprehension process.

An Introduction to English Tourism Discourse

Tourism has an extraordinary impact on society as a marketing product as attested by the huge number of studies devoted to tourism. Its interdisciplinary nature makes the domains of tourism a scholarly focus in various fields – architecture, archaeology, business and marketing, economics, environment, geography, history of the arts, psychology, religion and sociology, as well as gastronomic, entertainment and sports events, and recently even sustainability. Surprisingly, despite the fact the tourism industry is worth almost € 1.2 trillion, and despite the fact that most activities within this industry are undertaken in English as a lingua franca, the role of English in the tourism field remains rather unexplored. From an applied linguistics perspective, tourism on the one hand employs promotional discourse, and as such it targets laymen; on the other, it utilizes specialized discourse, and as such it is used by professionals. As a specialised discourse used by professionals, the multidimensional features of the language of tourism emerge in communicative events among specialists, which reveal standardized procedures and processes, as well as shared knowledge. Linguistically speaking, tourism can therefore be seen as a macro-specialized discourse which groups together as many specialized languages as the different disciplinary domains and sub-domains it deals with. As a non-specialised discourse, the very same multidimensional nature of the language of tourism can be detected in the interactions between specialists and non-specialists. The chapter aims at describing those lexical, syntactical and textual features of tourism discourse in general that characterize both specialised and non-specialised language.

“Eso no es lo mío”: un análisis de conflictos en la apropiación de prácticas de literacidad académica

<p>En este artículo, examinamos conflictos que emergieron en la apropiación de prácticas de literacidad académica, con base en trayectorias de universitarios afros e indígenas que ingresaron en universidades públicas por acciones afirmativas – en Brasil y Colombia. Para eso, analizamos parte de un corpus generado para una investigación doctoral, cuyo objeto fue la literacidad académica. En ese estudio, de carácter cualitativo, utilizamos entrevistas a estudiantes y documentos oficiales de la política afirmativa. Desde el marco de la Lingüística Aplicada, nuestra investigación se fundamenta en los <em>Nuevos Estudios de Literacidad</em> y en la teoría del Círculo de Bajtín. Los conflictos en las trayectorias de literacidad académica de esos estudiantes, además de denotar (des)encuentros con la universidad, interpelan las políticas interculturales desde sus experiencias, revelando aspectos de la vida universitaria que no suelen ser contemplados en las discusiones de permanencia de los programas de acción afirmativa, como la interculturalidad y el lenguaje.</p>

A construção da significação da experiência do abuso sexual infantil através da narrativa: uma perspectiva interacional

A pesquisa apresentada neste artigo, inscrita na Linguística Aplicada e inserida nos marcos teórico-metodológicos da Análise da Conversa (Sacks, 1992; Sacks; Schegloff; Jefferson, 1974) de natureza etnometodológica (Garfinkel, 1967), descreve e analisa qualitativamente interações entre um conselheiro tutelar e duas crianças vítimas de abuso sexual. Assumindo a necessidade de entender o abuso sexual de forma mais interdisciplinar, pesquisas sobre o uso situado da fala e sobre as práticas narrativas com crianças podem contribuir para evitar o fenômeno da revitimização institucional (Cézar, 2007). Durante a empreitada interacional de reconstruir o evento de abuso, é possível identificar que o conselheiro tutelar se orienta para a sua meta de construir um relatório convincente e reportável para o sistema judiciário (i.e. Promotoria da Infância e da Juventude; Ministério Público), conduzindo a atividade de modo a contemplar as evidências que ele julga necessárias. Os contornos da narrativa são, então, construídos de acordo com a ação que ela desempenha na interação (i.e. garantir medida de proteção para a vítima e punição para o/a agressor/a). Em especial, a análise dos dados aponta que o conselheiro se envolve ativamente na ação de significar a experiência com a vítima, acionando diversas estratégias interacionais, dentre as quais a formulação de perguntas polares e a oferta de itens lexicais, para descrever os sentimentos da criança. O engajamento do conselheiro na ação de significar a experiência acaba por assumir um valor prescritivo de significação da experiência do abuso e de performance da identidade de vítima (Ehrlich, 2002; Trinch, 2013). Ao realizar a atividade de significar as experiências das vítimas, o conselheiro faz emergir na fala-em-interação os valores morais que permeiam o discurso jurídico, que são também elementos de socialização das crianças sobre como sentir e falar sobre a violência sofrida. Estudos com a interface linguagem e violência sexual contribuem também para equacionar o dilema da necessidade de construir narrativas reportáveis ao sistema judiciário sem retirar a agentividade da vítima em significar a sua experiência. Além disso, podem servir de insumo para os/as profissionais que acolhem narrativas de crianças vítimas.

Who is a legitimate French speaker? The Senegalese in Paris and the crossing of linguistic and social borders

Just as the distinction between ‘French’ and ‘Francophone’ has implications in French literary studies, the boundaries that position certain groups as outsiders also exist in French society at large, where just because one speaks French, one is not necessarily a legitimate French speaker. For instance, while linguistic legislation in France stipulates that one must demonstrate a certain level of language proficiency in order to be granted citizenship as a means of fostering social integration, experiences of discrimination and exclusion evoked in interviews with 24 Senegalese immigrants and French citizens of Senegalese origin call into question the link between proficiency and acceptance. Through an applied linguistics perspective, this article demonstrates that linguistic competence is often determined by more than just the ability to use a language; it depends on the ability to prove cultural legitimacy, which is directly tied to understandings of race, nationality and language ownership.

INTERSEÇÕES ENTRE A LINGUÍSTICA APLICADA E OS ESTUDOS DE LETRAMENTO: DESENHOS TRANSDISCIPLINARES, ÉTICOS E CRÍTICOS DE PESQUISA

The paper discusses three aspects in New Literacies Studies research in Brazil, as developed by researchers from an Applied Linguistics perspective. This perspective contributes to determine epistemological, theoretical, and methodological issues in literacy research, as well as ethical issues in regard to the relationships established with the groups who participate in the research. Taking examples from our research group, known as Teacher Literacy Research Group (created in 1991), we discuss transdisciplinary relationships built between Literacy and Dialogism as developed by Bakhtin and his Circle. Another intersecting point between Applied Linguistics and Literacy Research discussed in the paper is the relation between ethics and research in the two fields; a third one has to do with the methods adopted: as in several other studies in Applied Linguistics, in literacy studies, ethnography has been the preferred methodology. We conclude pointing out that an approach that conceives its object in a transdisciplinary manner and adopts ethical criteria as a research validation element favors the development of critical studies about writing in which the choice of problems and research contexts support the social goals of the investigated groups.

Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) and Immersion Classrooms: Applied Linguistic Perspectives

International Journal of Applied LinguisticsVolume 23, Issue 3 p. 399-400 Research Network Report Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) and Immersion Classrooms: Applied Linguistic Perspectives Rick de Graaff, Rick de Graaff University of UtrechtSearch for more papers by this authorUte Smit, Ute Smit University of ViennaSearch for more papers by this author Rick de Graaff, Rick de Graaff University of UtrechtSearch for more papers by this authorUte Smit, Ute Smit University of ViennaSearch for more papers by this author First published: 06 November 2013 https://doi.org/10.1111/ijal.12048_5Citations: 3Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume23, Issue3Special Issue: Researching MultilinguallyNovember 2013Pages 399-400 RelatedInformation

Translanguaging Identities and Ideologies: Creating Transnational Space Through Flexible Multilingual Practices Amongst Chinese University Students in the UK

There are thousands of ethnic Chinese students from very different backgrounds in British universities today, a fact that has not been fully appreciated or studied from an applied linguistics perspective. For example, there are third- or fourth-generation British-born Chinese; there are students from China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore who have received whole or part of their primary and secondary education in Britain; and there are Chinese students who completed their schooling in their home countries. To add to the diversity of the Chinese student population, several distinctive varieties of Chinese are spoken as well as different varieties of English and other languages. In terms of their choice of language and social networks, the Chinese students have several options, including, for example, staying with their own language variety group (e.g. Cantonese, Mandarin); staying with their own region-of-origin group (e.g. British-born, Mainland Chinese, Taiwanese, Hong Kong); and creating new transnational and multilingual groupings. This article focuses on a group of Chinese university students who have chosen to create transnational and multilingual networks. Through analysis of narrative data and ethnographic observations, we explore issues such as their socio-cultural identification processes, the interactions between their linguistic and political ideologies; their multilingual practices and what they have learned from being part of this new social space.

‘CLIL and Immersion Classrooms: Applied Linguistic Perspectives’

‘CLIL and Immersion Classrooms: Applied Linguistic Perspectives’

Second Language Lexical Processes: Applied Linguistic and Psycholinguistic Perspectives edited by LENGYEL, ZSOLT, & JUDIT NAVRACSICS

The article reviews the book Second Language Lexical Processes: Applied Linguistic and Psycholinguistic Perspectives, edited by Zsolt Lengyel and Judit Navracsics.

Clearing the air: Applied linguistic perspectives on aviation communication

As a result of investigations showing that communication problems can be a significant contributing factor to major aviation accidents, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has established a set of Language Proficiency Requirements. All pilots and air traffic controllers engaged in international aviation must be certified by their national civil aviation authorities as meeting the requirements by March 2011. This has created a demand for tests designed to assess the speaking and listening skills of aviation personnel, and language testers have become involved as developers and evaluators of the various assessment instruments. The present paper gives an overview of the issues and introduces the themes discussed by the other contributors to this special issue of the journal, covering both the linguistic nature of aviation communication and more practical considerations in test design.

Teaching Korean as a Foreign Language as an Emerging Field of Study: From an Applied Linguistics Perspective

Teaching Korean as a Foreign Language as an Emerging Field of Study: From an Applied Linguistics Perspective

American Sign Language and Early Intervention

Abstract:Since the beginning of the twenty-first century, the introduction in several countries of universal neonatal hearing screening programs has changed the landscape of education for deaf children. Due to the increasing provision of early intervention services for children identified with hearing loss, public education for deaf children often starts in infancy. While infant hearing screening and intervention programs hold promise for enhancing deaf children's language development, concerns have been raised that these programs may not provide a well-informed or adequate range of options for families with deaf children. In particular, Ontario children who receive cochlear implants have frequently not been provided with support for learning American Sign Language (ASL), despite evidence for the benefits that learning ASL confers on spoken and written English language development in deaf children. This paper presents an applied linguistics perspective on early intervention policies and programs for deaf children.

The AILA Research Network – CLIL and Immersion Classrooms: Applied Linguistic Perspectives

CLIL and Immersion Classrooms: Applied Linguistic Perspectives (www.ichm.org/clil/) is one of a number of research networks (ReNs) established under the auspices of AILA. It was founded after the first CLIL Symposium, held in Vienna in July 2005. The network connects applied linguists who focus their research interests on educational settings which make use of an additional language for teaching and learning diverse content areas and thus engage in content and language integrated learning, or CLIL. Thus, this ReN provides researchers with a platform for presenting investigations on any type of classroom-based learning undertaken in a language other than the learners' first or previous language of education. This includes not only typical immersion settings of immigrant learners being integrated into mainstream education and use of the dominant language but also, and more centrally, the more recent phenomenon of using a foreign language as the medium of instruction, which has become an increasingly popular teaching approach at all educational levels in Europe and beyond, as recent publications show (Eurydice Report 2006; Marsh & Wolff 2007; Wilkinson & Zegers 2007).

Martin Pütz (ed.), Language choices: Conditions, constraints, and consequences. (Impact: Studies in language and society, 1.) Amsterdam & Philadelphia: Benjamins, 1997. Pp. ix, 427. Hb $127.00.

This is a collection of 21 essays from the 20th International L.A.U.D. (Linguistic Agency University of Duisburg) Symposium, held from Feb. 28 to March 3, 1995, at the University of Duisburg, Germany. In the words of the editor of the collection, the authors “explore the relations between social, psychological and (socio)linguistic aspects of language contact and language conflict situations both from a theoretical and an applied linguistics perspective” (x). The volume is divided into four sections: “Sociolinguistic and linguistic issues,” “Language policy and language planning,” “Language use and attitudes towards language(s),” and “Code-switching: One speaker, two languages.” Rather than discuss all 21 articles, I will focus on several whose themes are relevant to a number of areas of sociolinguistics.