Disciplinary Language Research Articles

Intertextuality in science textbooks: implications for diverse students’ learning

ABSTRACT A sociocultural perspective considers science textbooks as ‘cultural supportive tools’ with significant cultural missions. By juxtaposing symbolic, mathematical, and visual-graphical text, textbooks present the intertexts deployed by the scientific community to convey conceptual understandings in a way that no one form can. Intertextuality entails two aspects: bridging everyday knowledge with science knowledge, and intertextual links among the different modalities and representations. The aim of this research is to develop and utilise an analytic framework for analysing how intertextual relationships in science textbooks support diverse students’ learning. The framework was utilised to discern levels of intertextuality, types of content, and quality of scaffolds in a selection from grade 8 life and physical science textbooks. Intertextuality as the ensemble of different forms of text that ‘complement’ each other for conceptual learning was evident. However, these forms and representations were not explicitly connected to develop students’ competence in navigating the various modalities. Moreover, the science text displayed limited opportunities for eliciting events in students’ lives and for leveraging students’ knowledge to develop scientific explanations and disciplinary language. Findings are discussed in relation to the textbooks’ affordances for providing ‘hybrid spaces’ for students to coordinate and synthesise multiple representations and modalities for deep understandings.

Developing disciplinary discourse in a first-year engineering course: The DELNA initiative

First-year students in higher education settings tend to face ongoing challenges with variations in discursive practices and genres within their discipline. Within this context, a Diagnostic English Language Needs Assessment (DELNA) was administered to first-year engineering students to assess the strengths and needs of their ability to navigate academic language. The purpose of this paper is to report on our initiative to support student’s development of academic literacy, specifically their disciplinary language proficiency through the implementation of pedagogical support activities.

RETRACTED: Developing multiliteracy skills and pragmatic communication awareness of university students learning a foreign language (English) for specific purposes

The paper aims to explore the development of multiliteracy skills and pragmatic awareness of students in the process of university-based foreign language learning. The research topic choice is based on the increasing importance of interdisciplinary education, university graduates’ abilities and skills to hold efficient multilingual communication in varied and changing professional settings. The research was conducted during 2016–2020 at the [BLINDED] Institute of [BLINDED] University. Over 600 students were subject to the research experiments. The research integrated desk and field studies. Academic literature review served as the theoretical background to shape the methodology and identify the relevant didactic components for the awareness and skills development of university law students. The results of the study show that students’ multiliteracy skills increase by 25–27% during an academic year. Besides, the average figures for students’ awareness of and skills in the pragmatic communication increase by 25–30% during an academic year. Moreover, the comparative analysis of students’ academic progress in traditional and multiliteracy and pragmatic communication-focused training revealed that the didactic approach under study contributed to students’ overall academic progress, including legal subjects and language disciplines. The experimental training was launched and conducted during the mentioned period with the focus on multiliteracy skills and pragmatic communication awareness of university law students. A comparative analysis of students’ academic progress in traditional and multiliteracy training was conducted. The data confirmed that learning foreign language with the focus on multiliteracy skills and pragmatic communication awareness of university law students contributes to students’ overall academic progress, apart from foreign language skills. The practical significance and prospects of further research are based on the possibility of implementing the developed program, created on the basis of modern methodological approaches, in the curriculum not only at the Faculty of Law, but also at other faculties. It is important to study the effectiveness of modern methods in the process of learning foreign languages, determining their effectiveness in the formation of language competencies.

Возможности изучения языковых дисциплин для развития условий самореализации студентов технического вуза

Researched is the problem of creating conditions for self-realization in the course of studying language disciplines at the initial stage of training in a technical university. The study is based on the views of representatives of humanistic psychology and domestic teachers and psychologists, who regard self-realization as the highest stage in personality development, which predetermines its orientation and meaning of life. The article emphasizes the special capabilities of language disciplines in the formation of the process of self-realization, allowing you to learn to express your own position and results of activity in verbal form. The most important conditions for self-realization are highlighted as goal-setting and reflection at all stages of educational activity; turning it into a joint activity of both sides of the cognition process; development of skills of self-assessment and acceptance of assessment by others; the right balance of personal and collective. The paper analyzes the features of lectures and practical classes in creating opportunities for self-realization. The author comes to the conclusion that in the course of studying language disciplines, meaningful, organizational and methodological conditions are created for the implementation of self-realization at the subsequent stages of education and professional activity.

Mastering the content and aspect terminology of the French language on the basis of co-working with students of materials for distant content

Introduction. The relevance of the research is determined by the demand for the development of new content of training programs, including through the creation of educational and control materials based on them together with students in the process of mastering theoretical grammar. The purpose of the article is to optimize the process of teaching theoretical language disciplines using the capabilities of electronic resources, as well as to develop students' skills to create control and measurement materials, including those based on electronic constructors/products. Materials and methods. The study involved 45 students of the French-English department of the Faculty of Foreign Languages of the Bryansk State University in 2015/2016/2017. The dynamics of learning outcomes in the course of step-by-step training was established both on the basis of a subjective assessment of students ' responses by the teacher (I and II training models), and on the basis of electronic reports and training program schedules reflecting the assessments of subjects in different ranges (III training model). The results of the study. It is established that the interactive version of the study of thematic material in the electronic learning system (ESO) in the organizational mode "student – task co-developer" (model III-the creation of interactive tasks by students based on lecture material) is characterized by a fairly high level of indicators: 100% coverage of subjects and almost the same indicator of independence in the process of completing tasks. In accordance with the electronic reporting provided by the graphic material, 95-100% of the subjects have good and excellent indicators (4.5/5 – on a five-point scale; 8.5/10-on a ten-point scale). Discussion and conclusion. The peculiarities of mastering theoretical grammar on the basis of interactive resources of training programs can be taken into account by other researchers in the field of methods of teaching theoretical disciplines. In the future, the study of this topic can be continued in collaboration with developers of electronic products for philologists.

Leveraging incidental and intentional vocabulary learning to support multilingual students’ participation in disciplinary practices and discourses

This article discusses the role of vocabulary learning in supporting multilingual students’ participation in disciplinary practices and discourses in K–12 content‐area classrooms. First, the authors discuss the strengths and limitations of incidental and intentional vocabulary learning. They then propose a new approach to vocabulary instruction in particular and disciplinary language development in general: embedded teaching. This approach has three key characteristics: (1) prioritizes students’ engagement in sensemaking in the disciplines, (2) defines the language of school as encompassing everyday as well as disciplinary discourses, and (3) leverages both incidental and intentional vocabulary learning. The article illustrates the embedded teaching approach through examples that show how it can support multilingual students’ understanding of language in the disciplines. The authors foreground the importance of paying attention to students’ evolving understanding of disciplinary concepts, supporting the expression of student agency, and developing students’ metalinguistic awareness.

Inovasi Manajemen Kurikulum Sanggar Kutubut Turots

This article aims to describe and analyze curriculum planning; (2) curriculum organization; (3) curriculum implementation; and (4) curriculum evaluation at SMP Bilingual Terpadu 2 Junwangi Sidoarjo. This article uses a type of qualitative research with a case study approach. The results of this study are: (1) The curriculum planning of Kutubut Turost Studio in Bilingual Terpadu 2 Junior High School is based on the vision, mission, and goals of the school. (2) The organization of the Kutubut Turost Studio curriculum at the Bilingual Terpadu 2 Junior High School is divided into four areas that handle tasks proportionally with the aim of facilitating the implementation of the curriculum. The four fields include the Santrian Division which consists of the student council and the SKT and STE program, the Curriculum Division (7 student obligations) dealing with prayer discipline, language discipline, learning discipline, hygiene discipline, and security discipline, extra-curricular fields including tausiyah and ACEN recitations, PGPQ and reading the Qur'an, Muhadharah, Haulya qoryah, PJ Guest House and other extras and the field of pesantren economics including cooperatives, canteens & restaurants, ALBER and Wartel. (3) Implementation of the curriculum, namely the class level through the division of teaching tasks and the boarding school level through learning activities in the classroom and activities outside the classroom. (4) The evaluation of the curriculum carried out at the Kutubut Turost Studio at the Bilingual Terpadu 2 Junior High School was based on several things, namely: based on needs and suitability, and based on proposals based on semester exam results and observations made by homeroom teachers and tutors. Meanwhile, there are three curriculum evaluations conducted by Sanggar Kutubut Turost at SMP Bilingual Terpadu 2, evaluation in the cognitive field, evaluation in the field of character and personality, and the last evaluation in the field of discipline.

Here Be Monsters

Here Be Monsters

Blended Learning for Teaching Professionally Oriented Foreign and Native Languages

The work represents a new approach to the technology of blended learning. This new vision was developed during the period of online education in 2020-2021. The research shows relevance in the framework of developing high efficiency of professionally-oriented language education. Blended learning is an educational technology that has been theoretically developed in various countries over the past decades. Blended learning was and still is mostly understood as a combination of offline and online education as delivery methods; at present, such training involves a flexible combination of formats, in different proportions. The aim of the rese4arch is combining different types of delivery methods, pedagogical strategies, and tactics according to the needs of a particular student or a group of students. In Moscow Aviation Institute (National Research University), we provide teaching of both foreign and native professionally-oriented languages. In the situation of the COVID-19 Pandemic, we started to use new approaches to education. One of the ideas was to use a blended learning technique mixing two language disciplines. This approach turned out to improve the efficiency of the teaching process in unprecedented conditions due to the inclusion of all the skills and systems of languages. We developed general speech culture, intuitive linguistic flair, enlarged students’ active vocabulary, improved soft skills (flexible skills) of a non-linguistic type, which include critical thinking, teamwork, and creativity. The main task of developing and introducing this new approach was the provision of efficiency of teaching professionally-oriented language skills.

Engineering integration in elementary science classrooms: Effects of disciplinary language scaffolds on English learners' content learning and engineering identity

AbstractBackgroundLimited research examines the effects of integrated science and engineering (SE) instruction emphasizing disciplinary literacy and language activities on engineering identity and content understanding. Far fewer studies target English learners (ELs).PurposeThe impact of an SE intervention on the development of science, engineering, and technology knowledge as well as engineering identity was examined. To address ELs' learning needs, the curricular design was built on a validated SE model by integrating (1) developmental, (2) language scaffolds, and (3) culturally based accommodations.Design/MethodSeparate analysis of variance examined the effects of the intervention on science, engineering, and technology knowledge as well as engineering identity. The relationship among engineering identity and content outcomes was also examined. ELs from kindergarten to second grade classrooms were randomly assigned to the integrated SE group or control group.ResultsIntegrated SE instruction significantly increased ELs' science, engineering, and technology knowledge as well as a substantially developed engineering identity. Overall, ELs' engineering identity is associated with an increase in science, engineering, and technology content knowledge. However, second grade girls' identity development was not associated with learning measures. These correlations suggest the context of the engineering activity may have reinforced gendered stereotypes and reduced the effects for girls' engineering attitudes.ConclusionsIntegrated SE instruction emphasizing disciplinary literacy and cultural accommodations increases early elementary ELs' learning and engineering identity. Future studies should examine the unique effects of language scaffolds and cultural modifications on student learning and the impact of gender stereotypes on girls' engineering attitudes.

Formation of ethno-confessional Muslim education in the north of Kyrgyzstan in the late XIX-early XX centuries

This study comes as an attempts to summarize the published data and archival materials on the formation of the system of ethno-confessional education in the north of Kyrgyzstan, especially in the city of Tokmok. Due to its geographical location, this city was destined to become an educational center of Kyrgyz societies in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In 1897, Tokmok Russian-native school was opened, which was mostly named Rovnyaginskaya after the name of its head. Here, Muslim children were taught the basics of Islam and their native language, as well as Russian literacy and crafts – carpentry, bookbinding and shoemaking. According to the plan of the officials of the Russian administration of the region, such schools were supposed to train translators and small officials from the indigenous people. At the same time, in 1901–1902, the Jadid madrasah “Ekbal” (“Progress”) was opened in Tokmok, where, in addition to teaching the native language and religious disciplines, geography, arithmetic, anatomy and other disciplines were taught according to a new method. The article also provides a brief training program in this madrasah.

Curriculum change as transformational learning

ABSTRACT Through an evaluation of an institution-wide curriculum change process, this paper analyses how strategic policy is variously enacted in departmental communities. Linguistic ethnography of public, institutional and internal policy documents illuminates departments’ engagement with the change process. With curriculum change positioned as a disorienting dilemma, transformational learning theory provides a lens to analyse the departments’ alignment with the intention of the curriculum change policy. The paper explores the extent to which departments transformed from a disciplinary content-based and high-stakes examination approach to the curriculum to incorporating broader institutional aims and active learning theories into disciplinary language, pedagogy and practices. Three stages of engagement are identified through an evaluation rubric, offering a framework to assess curriculum change initiatives. Implications for educational leaders include the need to integrate institutional strategy with disciplinary experts and expertise and the importance of language adoption as a precursor to implementation.

Интерактивные методы в преподавании английского языка в университете

The article examines the problem of using interactive methods of teaching the discipline "English" (using the case method as an example). The purpose of the study is to provide theoretical justification and practical development of pedagogical conditions for the use of interactive methods of teaching language disciplines at the university (on the example of the case method and the discipline "English"). The scientific novelty lies in the theoretical justification of the pedagogical conditions for the use of interactive methods in the teaching process as a set of procedural and substantive pedagogical conditions. As a result, it is proved that the effectiveness of the use of the case method in the process of teaching English is provided by a set of pedagogical conditions, a detailed analysis of each of the conditions is carried out. Their essence, interrelationships and functions are proved. The place of each of the conditions in the process of foreign language training of university students is determined. The importance of ensuring the totality of all pedagogical conditions, their interrelation and interdependence, which, in turn, will ensure the effectiveness of the use of the case method in teaching English, is emphasized.

Experiencing Southeast Asian Studies in China: A reverse culture shock

Southeast Asian Studies (SEAS) in China has experienced significant changes in the past twenty years. China's rising political and economic power has stimulated growing demands for better understanding of the wider world, resulting in the rapid development of area studies in recent years. Although SEAS in China predated the relatively recent notion of ‘area studies’ by at least half a century, the boom in area studies has profoundly transformed the field, most notably by attracting a large number of scholars to conduct policy-relevant research. Not only does the ‘policy turn’ reflect shifts of research paradigms in the field of SEAS, but it is also consistent with some larger trends prevailing in China's higher education sector and rapidly changing society in general. This article shows that SEAS in China has grown even more imbalanced, as indicated by the rapid growth of language programmes, absolute domination of short-term policy research, and further marginalisation of humanistic subjects. To respond, Chinese universities have adopted new approaches to SEAS depending on their distinct disciplinary foundations, language coverage, faculty interests, and local governments’ policy preferences.

Africology and the Question of Disciplinary Language

This essay is a contribution to Africology’s discipline-building. It examines more particularly the importance of disciplinary language, stressing the need for clear language and consistent definitions. Of particular concern are terms like “African-centeredness” and “Africancentered” which have never been clearly defined although they are widely used. This clout, this essay argues, impedes discipline-building efforts by introducing and sustaining semantic and terminological incoherence.

Mediational tools, private speech and disciplinary literacy practices: an adolescent’s personal learning space

The present case study is inspired by preliminary observations of a young adolescent’s use of private speech within pretend play to develop disciplinary knowledge in the home domain. Using audio-recordings of the learner’s pretend play as a starting point, followed by informal conversations with her, the parent-as-researcher investigates the learner’s choice and use of mediational tools and texts as she engages with disciplinary contents and navigates disciplinary challenges. The findings indicate that the informant uses a combination of mediational tools and texts, both digital and non-digital, as part of her disciplinary literacy practices. Interestingly, she also uses vocalized private speech within the privacy of her pretend play to develop, extend and practise her disciplinary language and literacy skills. It is argued that the informant authors her personal learning space as an empowered and an increasingly autonomous learner by choosing and using different mediational tools and texts, each of which has its own affordances. It is also argued the informant’s choice and use of each of the mediational tools and texts available to her are shaped and constrained by the physical environment which she inhabits.

Examining the Dynamics of Field Philosophies and Epistemologies within Community Development Education

The concept, community well-being, has been studied across several academic disciplines, each employing its unique perspective. In an effort to enhance the well-being of communities globally, many scholars have commenced multi-disciplinary initiatives to address complex problems. For decades, researchers have documented the challenges of such diverse collaborations. Results often highlight the benefits of multi-disciplinary expertise coming together to solve complex problems. While this is perceived as a primary strength, they also acknowledge complications with interpersonal communication among cross-disciplinary efforts. Each discipline having its own professional language with unique cultural norms and assumptions—creating a contemporary Tower of Babel. We posit that disciplinary language is not the only barrier in creating functional multi-disciplinary programs. We argue that in addition to disciplinary languages, each field ascribes to a set of paradigms that frame the way professionals are trained in the discipline view the outside world. We identify the various disciplines contributing to community development education (CDE), the university-based educational platform for individuals interested in the field of community development, and examines the diverse paradigms associated with each discipline. We then consider how the varied paradigms create further complexity with interpersonal communication in the context of CDE. Lastly, we propose methods to identify disciplinary paradigms using them to enhance rather than detract from cross disciplinary collaboration.

A Method for the Affixed Word Transliteration to the Balinese Script on the Learning Web Application

This research proposed a method for the affixed word transliteration to the Balinese Script since there has not been studied yet and it is important since the affixed word needs to be transliterated, inevitably. This research is one of the efforts to preserve digitally the endangered Balinese local language knowledge in Indonesia through the multi-discipline collaboration between Computer Science and Language discipline. The proposed method was taken care of two related aspects, i.e.; (1) A Latin root word has its related Balinese Script root word by using default or special transliteration rule; and (2) A Latin root word with a special transliteration rule for its Balinese Script root word, also need a special transliteration rule for its affixed word. This study was conducted on the pioneering web-based transliteration learning application, BaliScript, that receives the Latin text input and outputs the Balinese Script by using the Noto Serif Balinese font with its dedicated Balinese Unicode. Through the experiment, the proposed method gave the expected transliteration results, added a certain perspective, and strengthened the transliteration knowledge. Future work is to enhance and reuse this method on the mobile computing device, as a part of the Balinese Language ubiquitous learning that supports Balinese Language education, which is a mandatory local subject from the elementary school to the high school in Bali Province.

An Overview of Main Theories in Cognitive Linguistics

Cognitive linguistics is an emerging language discipline that studies language based on new philosophical and cognitive views and people's experience of the world and the perception and conceptualization of the world. This paper mainly introduces main theories of Cognitive Linguistics that aims to provide some reference for language beginners and help them to fully understand Cognitive Linguistics.

O uso das TICs como recurso didático no processo de ensino-aprendizado de língua portuguesa: implicações dessa interface em sala de aula

<p align="justify"><span class="fontstyle0">The pedagogical strategy most used today to arouse students’ interest in classes is the use of technological resources. Portuguese language teaching has also adopted it. For this reason, this qualitative research aims to verify whether the insertion of Information and Communication Technology in the Portuguese language discipline influences students’ learning. Meetings were held, in a pedagogical environment, with students from two high school classes at the IFPB, Campus Campina Grande, in the academic year of 2019. Pedagogical activities were carried out, with and without the use of technological resources, which included the contents of reading and interpretation of chronicles, as well as the production of micro fictions. The main result obtained indicated that the use of technological resources can influence the pedagogical process, as well as the academic performance of students, in a positive way. In addition to that, students were more attentive and participated more actively in class. There was also an improvement in the student-student ratio due to the activities proposed. </span></p>