Language Awareness Research Articles

Co-learning, co-planning, and co-shifting to build critical (trans)language(ing) awareness: case studies from the field

Co-learning, co-planning, and co-shifting to build critical (trans)language(ing) awareness: case studies from the field

Pleonasm in English – Polish – German. Translation and Implications for Foreign Language Teaching

The following article elaborates on the problem of pleonasms. These are expressions that occur in every language where one element repeats the meaning of the whole phrase and is thus redundant. The aim of the planned study is to ascertain how students of English and German deal with pleonasms and whether they retain them in translation. A second important aspect for examination is the extent of students’ translation experience and language awareness, measured in this study by how conscious their approach to pleonasms in translation work is. Two groups of students will be tested – those in their 2nd (without translation experience) and those in the 3rd year of study for a bachelor’s degree in Applied Linguistics. The results will be compared on the students’ completion of three translation tasks: translation from Polish into German and English, translation from German into Polish and from English into Polish. Based on the results of the translation tasks, several didactic implications are suggested to promote language awareness regarding, in particular, redundancy and pleonasms.

The Relationship between Language Awareness and Cultural Identities [open access

The Relationship between Language Awareness and Cultural Identities [open access

1930년대 대중가요의 어휘와 언어문화 현상

This paper examined the vocabulary of Kim Hae-song's song to understand the characteristics of vocabulary use in the lyrics of the 1930s. Kim Hae-song was a singer, songwriter, and performer representing the 1930s. Since he wrote lyrics in various fields regardless of the genre of music, he can grasp the phenomenon of language and culture in the 1930s through his vocabulary of lyrics.
 First, the use of vocabulary in Kim Hae-song's song was examined. The lyrics of Kim Hae-song's song have various vocabulary reflecting the language and cultural phenomena of the 1930s. In this era, traditionally, not only Chinese characters close to the superstrum and native languages corresponding to the substratum were mixed, but also Japanese was forced against one’s will. On the other hand, due to the influx of Western culture, Western languages, including English, have flooded in. The vocabulary of Kim Hae-song's lyrics also reflects the situation of the times, taking on complexity. In other words, native, Chinese, and foreign languages are used in combination in the lyrics of Kim Hae-song's song.
 Second, the vocabulary expression aspect of Kim Hae-song's song was examined. Kim Hae-song's lyrics were diverse by reflecting the language culture of the times. This is because it was necessary to select such a vocabulary and express the object convincingly. It can be divided into descriptive expressions of characters, figurative expressions of love, and playful expressions of objects. Descriptive expressions of characters were expressed as if they were describing characters aiming for old and new culture as in narrative literature. In the figurative expression of love, the expression of affection was not dealt directly, but the emotion of love was added to the image of the audiovisual by comparing it to the object. In the playful expression of the object, the lyrics are added with fun through the method of humor and joke.
 Third, the language-cultural phenomenon of the vocabulary of Kim Hae-song’s song was surveyed. Representative examples include the expansion of awareness of everyday language, universal use of negative expressions, and ambivalent attitudes toward old and new culture. It can be said that the expansion of awareness of everyday language was established when the words of the time encountered a new language. In the universal use of negative expressions, in a society at the time when old and new cultures were mixed, those who value tradition disapproved of admiring Western culture, and those who pursue Western culture could criticize those who adhere to traditional culture, so negative expressions were commonly used. The ambivalent attitude toward the object is generally treated negatively for tradition, but it is concentrated on women, and it is often positive for Western culture, and in that case, it is common to evaluate men positively.

Ethnic group affiliation and second/foreign language accentedness in English and Mandarin among Hong Kong speakers

ABSTRACT As part of a larger project that investigates the issue of identities in Hong Kong, this study anchored on the sociocognitive paradigm in second language acquisition (SLA) explores the potential relationship between one’s identity and perceived language accentedness. Our study set in Hong Kong (HK) aims to extend Gatbonton and colleagues’ works (e.g. [2005]. Learners’ ethnic group loyalty and L2 pronunciation accuracy: A sociolinguistic investigation. TESOL Quarterly, 39(3), 489–511. https://doi.org/10.2307/3588491; [2008]. The ethnic group affiliation and L2 proficiency link: Empirical evidence. Language Awareness, 17(3), 229–248. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658410802146867; [2011]. Ethnic group affiliation and patterns of development of a phonological variable. Modern Language Journal, 95(2), 188–204. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.2011.01177.x) that examine the relationship between ethnic group affiliation (EGA) and language proficiencies in diglossic contexts. HK is a multi-glossic context where Cantonese, English and Mandarin are the official languages, and they perform distinctive functions in various public and private domains. Through analysing participants’ (n = 65; born between 1970s–1990s) self-identification and their reported accentedness in English and Mandarin, we address the question of whether EGA as a set of social factors has a bearing on a person’s linguistic achievements. Findings indicate that participants’ identification with the Chinese/ HK identity is related to their perceived accentedness in the targeted languages in intricate ways that do not align completely with our predictions. We conclude by calling for further socio-cognitively informed research that investigates multiglossic situations where languages/ language varieties complement or compete with each other.

Developing genre awareness in collaborative academic reading: A case study of novice academic learners

Genre awareness, the conscious knowledge of how genre features function in reading and writing (Tardy et al., 2020), plays a facilitating role in reading academic texts. However, there is limited empirical research focusing on novice academic learners' genre awareness acquisition and development in collaborative reading contexts, despite the great benefits associated with such collaborative designs (Johns, 2008; Ye, 2020). Therefore, the current study, employing a qualitative case study approach, investigated how Chinese first-year university students acquired and developed genre awareness in collaborative academic reading. Data from multiple sources were collected, including classroom recordings, students’ written products, and semi-structured interviews, from two focal groups in a university English for Academic Purposes (EAP) reading course with a pedagogical design aimed at collaborative reading of research reports. Drawing on relevant genre and metacognition theories, data analyses revealed that these two groups of Chinese freshmen developed awareness of text structure, academic language, and academic norms, and that the development of the three types of metacognitive genre awareness followed different trajectories over a semester of collaborative academic reading. These findings contribute to our understanding of how novice academic learners become aware of an academic genre and learn it through a collaborative approach.

Maahanmuuttotaustaisten kielenoppijoiden moninaiset kielet ja polut

While student diversity is increasing, it is crucial for teachers to be aware of how to recognize the importance and potential of the language background and existing skills that their students bring with them. This article presents some research findings and data excerpts on how these are reflected in the learners’ opportunities for participation in interaction and various activities in learning communities. The theoretical framework consists of ecological and usage-based approaches that have served as a basis for pedagogies that center multilingual repertoires, language awareness and social interaction at the core of language learning. The perspective adopted in the article is primarily that of individual learners who are learning Finnish as their second language. Some future prospects in the field of language education are also discussed with regard to the increasing student diversity and the need for ensuring equitable language learning opportunities for all.

Investigating critical language awareness pedagogy in China: a case study of a Chinese university EFL teacher

As a newly developed principle of language teaching, critical language awareness (CLA) has great potential to promote social justice through language learning. However, the implementation of CLA pedagogy in Chinese educational settings has not been fully explored yet. Informed by the theory of planned behavior (TPB), this case study investigated the implementation of CLA pedagogy in a Chinese EFL writing class by exploring the teacher’s attitudes and perceived barriers, and how these factors influenced her intention to adopt the pedagogy. The analyses of multiple qualitative data sources (semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, teaching lesson plans, and course curriculum) revealed that the teacher’s intention of adopting CLA pedagogy was positively affected by her high appraisal of CLA. Several challenges were also found to limit the teacher’s choice of pedagogy, including the pressure from standardization examinations, the mismatch between the aims of CLA pedagogy and students’ actual needs and expectations, as well as insufficient teaching materials and resources. Based on these findings, several implications were suggested for the research of CLA pedagogy in Chinese EFL contexts.

Mixed inference machine reading comprehension method based on symbolic logic

With the rapid development of machine learning, challenging question and answer datasets have also emerged, and the machine reading comprehension technology has emerged. Traditional machine reading comprehension methods mostly focus on the understanding word level semantics, with the weak ability to extract logical relationships from text, resulting in the lower ability of logical reasoning. In order to strengthen the ability of machine reading comprehension method to extract the logical relationship of text and the ability of logical reasoning, a neural symbol model based on logical reasoning was proposed, and the logical expressions captured by the neural symbol model were converted into text input and trained in a mixed reasoning reading comprehension model based on symbolic logic. The mixed reasoning reading comprehension model based on symbolic logic is different from the traditional machine reading comprehension model. It uses symbolic definition and logical capture to extract logical symbols and generate logical expressions. The research results show that the accuracy and F-measure values of the neural symbol model based on the logical reasoning are 70.08% and 70.05%, respectively, when the training set sample size is 4000. The accuracy of the mixed reasoning reading comprehension model based on symbolic logic in the logical reasoning data set of the standard postgraduate entrance examination is 88.31%, which is higher than the 58.74% of the language perception map network model. The accuracy rate in the four-choice and one-choice question-and-answer data set is 40.92%, which is 1.58% higher than that of the language awareness graph network model. In summary, the neural symbol model and hybrid inference reading comprehension model proposed in the study have superior performance, which can capture the logical relationship of text in data sets well, improve the model feature abstraction and reasoning ability, effectively shorten the training time and improve the model efficiency.

Recognising Yarrie Lingo, the creole language of Yarrabah community in far north-eastern Queensland Australia

Abstract Yarrie Lingo is the local name for the English-lexified creole language spoken in the Aboriginal community of Yarrabah in far north-eastern Queensland, Australia. This creole has only recently been gaining recognition but it is the main language of everyday interactions in Yarrabah. This study describes the recognitional trajectory of Yarrie Lingo and what has fostered this language awareness. With a focus on the experiences of the local Aboriginal educator, language activist and researcher, Bernadine Yeatman, we showcase a range of grounded methodologies, including devices like language posters, interviews and illustrative stories, along with maps, timelines and cartoons developed in conjunction with a linguist, Denise Angelo. This shines a light onto the practical ‘how to’ of language awareness for under-recognised language communities and the potential support a linguist can provide. It exemplifies a research approach which engages linguistic knowledge with local language expertise to co-design materials for community members, educators and service providers.

Corpora in English Language Teacher Education: Research, Integration, and Resources

AbstractFor some time, arguments have been made that for the increased successful use of corpus linguistics (CL), in the form of Data‐Driven Learning (DDL; Johns, 1991) in the second language classroom, teacher education programs must play a central role by providing the necessary instruction and triggers. Three means of integrating corpora into teacher education have been identified (Leńko‐Szymańska, 2022): as a tool for language awareness, as pedagogically‐focussed instruction for DDL, and as a fully‐fledged CL course. It is difficult to gauge the effectiveness of these three approaches because we can only rely on the relatively few, but growing, number of research studies that are published. Naturally, the existing studies are based on relatively small numbers of participants, rely mainly on data collected through questionnaires and self‐reports, and rarely trace the extended effects of the instruction after the student teachers leave the programs. It is also hard to generalize from these accounts as they are deeply imbedded in their institutional curricula and their local teacher education traditions. Nonetheless, they provide a foundation for the discussion in this paper which proposes a tripartite framework for the integration of instructional CL into language teacher education programs. This consists of corpus literacies, corpus‐based language pedagogy, and corpus‐based reflective practice. In addition, we present a summary of some useful published resources that can be used to support the integration of such a framework.

Socio-cultural and psychological analysis of gender discriminative language

The paper examines on socio-cultural and psychological analysis of language and gender discrimination. The motivation behind the examination was due to the increase of discriminated language assigned to gender. Literature shows that lack of awareness and education in large trigger discriminative language. This motivates investigation as the suggested factors are questionable. The paper used deficit, dominance, and identity control theories in explaining gender and language of discrimination. The study used an ethnographical study and a case study design where Mwalimu Nyerere Memorial Academy of Tanzania was a case for investigation. The study was qualitative in nature, whereby words, phrases and sentences were used in the data analysis stage. It was found that pitch rate, dressing styles, body structures, class presentation and group discussion were the areas where the gendered language was evidenced in favour of females as the result words like buttocks, smooth pitch, half necked, don’t be like a girl, be strong and rhythm pitch result from women themselves against men. Thus, discriminative words are mostly triggered by females themselves. Based on the findings, it was concluded that females should stand by themselves; they should not think that their body appearance and biological makeup trigger them to create environments of gendered words.

“Este Artículo Describía Mi Vida”

The field of Spanish for heritage speakers has evolved considerably over the past decades, moving from educational practices in which students were punished for speaking Spanish in the classroom to modern approaches that seek to raise critical awareness of students’ own varieties (e.g., Avendaño, 1979; Beaudrie, 2015; Beaudrie et al., 2021; Correa, 2011; Holguín Mendoza, 2018; Leeman, 2005, 2018; Martínez, 2003, Valdés, 1981; Villa, 2004). However, despite current research that supports critical language awareness and community engagement, heritage speakers continue to suffer from insecurity caused in part by discrimination and criticism from their families, schools, and society (e.g., Burns, 2018; George & Peace, 2019; Higby et al., 2023; Leeman, 2012, 2018; Lowther Pereira, 2015; MacGregor-Mendoza & Moreno, 2016; Martínez & Schwartz, 2012; Pascual y Cabo et al., 2017; Rangel et al., 2015; Sánchez-Muñoz, 2016; Showstack, 2012, 2017). Work in critical language awareness must expand beyond the classroom into the wider community. This paper presents the results of an academic intervention in which undergraduate-level linguistics courses at a Hispanic-Serving Institution published Spanish-language articles and podcasts on topics in critical language awareness and heritage/minority languages. An analysis of the comments posted to these publications by community members reveals that, although these topics are relatively unknown outside of the classroom, they are quite relevant. The positive responses to these publicly available articles and podcasts, plus the presence of some purist ideologies even in the most supportive comments, underscore the necessity of including more public-facing work in the heritage language classroom.

“Equitable multilingualism” for equitable access to learning

Addressing the digital divide for refugee learners accessing higher education in displacement also involves addressing the linguistic divide, particularly as we live in a world of interlanguage inequality where academic digital resources and learning opportunities available largely require fluency in colonial languages like English, French, Spanish, etc. This paper focuses specifically on English as many connected tertiary programs available to refugees around the world are English-mediated. It is crucial that as connected higher education becomes a key strategy for access by the United Nations, INGOs, bilateral institutions, and private donors, universities involved in this work expand their use of technology to deliver programs to integrate technology-mediated language education for digital-skills, language awareness, and language development. This argument is based on an emancipatory approach that argues literacy (i.e., English literacy and digital literacy) only empowers people when it renders them active questioners of the social reality around them.

Language awareness of non-native speakers of Polish

Language awareness of non-native speakers of Polish

Developing In-Service Techers' Language Awareness through a metacognition-based program

Developing In-Service Techers' Language Awareness through a metacognition-based program

Multilingual Computer-Based Learning Environments For Stem Education And Language Awareness

Multilingual Computer-Based Learning Environments For Stem Education And Language Awareness

A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing? Critical Discourse Analysis of Five Online Automated Paraphrasing Sites

Research on academic integrity used to focus more on student character and behaviour. Now this research includes wider viewing of this issue as a current teaching and learning challenge which requires pedagogical intervention. It is now the responsibility of staff and institutions to treat the creation of a learning environment supporting academic integrity as a teaching and learning priority. Plagiarism by simply copying other people’s work is a well-known misconduct which undermines academic integrity; moreover, technological developments have evolved plagiarism to include the generation and copying of computer-generated text. Automated paraphrasing tool (APT) websites have become increasingly common, offering students machine-generated rephrased text that students input from their own or others’ writing. These developments present a creeping erosion of academic integrity under the guise of legitimate academic assistance. This also has implications for arrival of large language model (LLM) generative AI tools. In accessing these sites, students must discern what is a legitimate use of the tool and what may constitute breaching academic integrity. This study critically analysed the text from five online paraphrasing websites to examine the discourses used to legitimise and encourage APT use in both appropriate and inappropriate ways. We conceptualised these competing discourses using Sheep and Wolf metaphors. In addition, we offer a metaphor of the Educator as a Shepherd to become aware of APT website claims and assist students to develop critical language awareness when exposed to these sites. Educators can assist students with this through knowledge of how these sites use language to entice users to circumvent learning.

Between Collocation and Colligation: An Experiment in Collaborative Lexicography

Abstract This paper describes a protocol for using dictionaries in classroom activities to support language learning and develop language awareness (Nied Curcio 2022). A group of undergraduate foreign language students was guided through the process of compiling a multilingual Covid-19 dictionary, which provides collocational data to support language production and improve fluency in an L2. The activities were an integral part of a BA course in Lexicology and Lexicography. Lexonomy was used as the project editing tool. The compilation process not only shed light on the students’ challenges in basic language skills, such as syntactic analysis, but also highlighted the importance of refining the proposed teaching programme to include more detailed metalinguistic explanation and an augmented dictionary microstructure. Besides, the skills that emerged from the experiments conducted also provide valuable insights for research into dictionary use and the design of effective dictionaries.

The effects of multilingual pedagogies on language awareness: A longitudinal analysis of students’ language portraits

The purpose of this study is to investigate the use of language portraits as a tool for longitudinally investigating the changes in children's language awareness within a project that combines and implements translanguaging pedagogy and pluralistic approaches in an Italian primary and middle school (from Grade 1 to 8) with a high percentage of immigrant students. The language portraits produced by 71 children (between 9 and 12 years old) before and after their exposure to multilingual pedagogies were analysed using NVivo R1 in order to identify recurring patterns and differences. After engaging in multilingual activities, the emergent bilingual children whose first language portraits did not include their home languages decided to represent them. The majority of the children in the second language portrait also represent the languages spoken by their peers, indicating the recognition of the collective linguistic repertoire, as a result of the implementation of multilingual pedagogies.