Social Language Research Articles

Exploring the Use of the Term 'Bao' on the Internet

In recent years, as society continues to change, internet epithets have gone through generations of change. Scholars' enthusiasm for epithets peaked in the last decade but rapidly faded away. This article explores the origins and influence of the Internet address form 'Bao'. It examines the phenomenon of 'virtual intimacy' in the social use of the term 'Bao'. "The term 'Bao' has become popular because of a movie and some hot stems and was initially used in intimate relationships between parents and children or couples. This application has greatly solved the dilemma faced by Internet users and brought people closer to each other while reflecting the diverse psychology of contemporary people in choosing address words in online social networking. The term 'Bao' embodies the principle of economy of language, and the use of a relatively small number of words reflects the great utility of language, injecting new power into online terms of endearment while reflecting the homogenisation of social language. It also provokes reflection on 'virtual intimacy' in a social atmosphere.

The VP in language contact: on creation event lexicalization in Canadian French

Abstract The effects of language contact on semantic and syntactic properties of verbs can be considered as not yet extensively studied. This contribution is concerned with French as a typical verb-framed language that cannot freely combine manner verbs with result-denoting arguments within the VP. Drawing on creation events, the study explores if restrictions can loosen, and lexicalization preferences change when French is in contact to a satellite-framed language like English. Judgment data from bilingual speakers of Canadian French (CaFr) are compared to data from speakers of Hexagonal French (HFr). The analysis addresses how selective copying from English is relevant for the acceptability of different VPs and considers how the factors of individual and social language dominance might influence the judgments within the CaFr group. The results show that French manner verbs and direct objects can be coerced into creation readings in both test groups as long as only the selectional restrictions of a particular verb have to be adapted. When, however, a general constraint of French has to be overridden to arrive at a creation reading, acceptability is higher in the CaFr group, who can resort to combinatorial copying from English. Furthermore, VPs in which manner is not lexicalized in the verb are somewhat more accepted in the HFr group than in the CaFr group. Within the CaFr group, certain cases of satellite framing are judged somewhat better by speakers from an English dominant region, while VPs without a manner verb reach slightly higher scores among speakers from Quebec. It is thus shown how structural and speaker-related factors can affect the acceptability of event descriptions in language contact.

Strategi Pembelajaran Keterampilan Speaking

English in speaking skills. Referring to English as the world's largest lingua franca or social language, English today has become the second most spoken language after Chinese. Furthermore, its status has been made as one of the languages that must be learned in almost all countries in the world. Therefore the need to always improve the quality of teaching is fundamental. But in practice, teaching and learning English in the classroom still leaves a lot of homework, especially those related to speaking teaching strategies. The low quality of graduate students in Indonesia in the field of speaking has proven that there is a pattern that needs to be addressed from the English language teaching system in our country. Therefore this study aims to provide an understanding of several types of language teaching strategies that can be implemented in the classroom. By using the method of library research or literature. This article provides an understanding and description of the types of learning strategies that can be used when teaching English.

Language shift: gender differences in Chaouia use in Algeria

Abstract The paper explored the shift away from Chaouia, a variety of Tamazight, to the use of Algerian Arabic in Batna (northeast Algeria). The Chaouia-speaking community had recently witnessed a large rural exodus and significant social changes and mobility due to economic opportunities, education and ethnic contact. The paper focused on gender differences in language use and considered how socialisation and cultural ideologies regarding men’s and women’s relationship to language shape linguistic decisions and choices. Building upon representations of masculinity and femininity, we investigated the ways in which these gendered practices constrain or restrict Chaouia use among working-class Chaouias. We used a qualitative approach with an embedded quantitative element to analyse interviews and surveys across the domestic setting as well as schools and social networks in Batna to examine the interplay between gender identities and language socialisation at home, language choices at school and among friends. The increase in cross-ethnic contact with the larger Arabic-speaking community had introduced significant re-considerations of social and linguistic priorities in the community. The findings showed a clear impact of parents on the acquisition of a gendered pattern of language choice, with boys being socialised in Chaouia and girls in Algerian Arabic. This pattern was further reinforced at school and among peers through teachers and social networks. Females’ networks were ethnolinguistically heterogeneous whereas males’ networks were Amazigh-oriented. Hence, the traditional link of Tamazight to femininity was re-negotiated to generate a discourse of blame for the ongoing language shift and identity loss.

Dynamic Perceptions in Learning Vietnamese: A Case Study of Vietnamese Majors at a Chinese University

As a key educational hub linking China to Southeast Asia, Yunnan constitutes an important strategic space for cultivating foreign language talents of Southeast Asian languages. Following Duff’s multiscalar approach of theorizing language socialization (2019), this study examines the Vietnamese language learning experiences of Chinese students in Yunnan. By selecting nine participants majoring in Vietnamese for different length of periods, this study reveals a series of challenges confronting Vietnamese majors at micro-, meso- and macro-levels. The study also shows that Chinese students mobilize their linguistic, social and cultural resources to overcome their learning challenges and shape their perceptions towards learning Vietnamese. The findings of the study can contribute to a better understanding of how language learning is mediated in the broader process of the socioeconomic transformations between China and Vietnam.

Концептуальные основы становления языковой социализации за рубежом

<p>The article provides an analysis of the conceptual foundations of the formation of linguistic socialization in the 20th century. Special attention is paid by the authors to the study of the pragmatics of the development of Elinor Ochs and Bambi Schieffelin, which became the basis for the emergence of linguistic socialization, exploring how children perceive and act out the «context of the situation» in relation to the «context of culture». The authors described the existing relationships between linguistic socialization and language acquisition, linguistics and anthropology. It was revealed that linguistic socialization combines discursive and ethnographic methods that fix social structures and cultural interpretations of semiotic forms, practices that allow children to properly build interaction in society in the future. The authors conclude that studies devoted to the process of language acquisition prioritise the mother-child conversation as the object of study, while studies of language socialization extend it to the range of communicative partners — adults and children — with whom the child or other new community member typically interacts to some degree in socioculturally configured settings.</p>

Forum Introduction: Promoting Equity in Speech-Language Services With Indigenous Children.

Forum Introduction: Promoting Equity in Speech-Language Services With Indigenous Children.

Does Language Entropy Shape Cognitive Performance? A Tale of Two Cities

AbstractResearch examining the cognitive consequences of bilingualism has increasingly relied on continuous measures to capture the degree and nature of bilingual experience, using such variables as proficiency, age of acquisition, and language environments. One such measure, language entropy, indexes the social diversity of contexts in which each language is used. The construct was developed in a particular bilingual context, Montréal, Canada. The present study investigated the extent to which it also applies to a context in which social language use is substantially different from that of Montréal – namely, Toronto, Canada. Following the procedures in the original study, participants were assigned an entropy score and performed the AX-Continuous Performance Task (AX-CPT). Performance was associated with self-rated language proficiency, but unlike the results from Montréal, was not associated with entropy scores. Therefore, differences in the language context influence whether language entropy is related to behavioral performance on a cognitive task.

International Students in Ontario Secondary Schools: Demystifying the Stereotype

This article addresses findings of a pilot study focused on the schooling experiences and social and cultural adaptation of international/visa students who have come to Canada to learn English and obtain an Ontario Secondary School Diploma. Nonnative speakers of English and noncitizens of Canada, they are generally brought to Canada by relatives who depart after installing them with host families with whom they have had virtually no previous contact. Respondents reported that most of these youths’ parents have made considerable sacrifices in the hope that acquisition of “legitimate” English will give their child access to global citizenship and a secure future. Findings indicate that many early study abroad international students experience difficulties with second language socialization and are considered “at risk” for academic failure. Testimony from educators and focal students reveals that this cohort experiences significant adaptation issues, including: loneliness and disorientation, depression, and disabling circumstances resulting from injudicious choices.

Variability of the Linguistic Consciousness development of an Individual in the Artificial Bilingualism Conditions

Purpose. The purpose of this study was to outline the variable markers of the individual linguistic awareness/consciousness development in the conditions of artificial bilingualism.
 Methods. The main method of the study was the method of selective observation with the fixation of markers of the linguistic awareness development and qualitative indicators of respondents' mastery of English as a foreign language in the artificial bilingualism conditions. Potential standards of passive-mechanical (imitation) and active (cognitive-communicative) models of artificial bilingualism were used for comparison. Markers of the respondents’ linguistic awareness were subject to monitoring: language knowledge, culture and speaking skills (at a level sufficient for formulating and expressing thoughts in the process of interpersonal communication in a foreign language), manifestations of language socialization (mastering the norms of listening, perceiving and speaking in a foreign language at a level sufficient for communication and coordination of semantic codes of communication subjects).The obtained data were subjected to content analysis, which made it possible to evaluate the markers of the development of the respondents’ linguistic awareness in the artificial bilingualism conditions and to reveal the level of using a foreign language in communication. In order to statistically confirm the significance of the obtained data, the method of one-factor variance analysis (Fisher’s φ-criterion) was used. A multidimensional procedure of cluster analysis (K-means clustering) was also used, which made it possible to distinguish subsets of the levels of the linguistic awareness development among the respondents of the research project.
 Results. The results of the data analysis of the research project proved that the differences between the experimental and control groups of junior high school students in identifying markers of linguistic awareness are reliably significant relative to individual predictors of the logical ordering of speech-thinking dimensions of language awareness (at p ≤ 0.05).Respondents of the experimental group demonstrate better results in listening, understanding the content of oral expression in a familiar everyday context and in communicative competences. The dominance of markers of an average level of linguistic awareness development among younger schoolchildren was also recorded.
 Conclusions. In the realities of permanent transformations of the modern information society, bilingualism appears as a predictor of foreign language mastery at a level sufficient for communication and exchange of ideas with other subjects of linguistic activity. Language (and foreign language in particular) is not only a communication tool, but also a way of perceiving, organizing and encoding (or decoding) the surrounding reality. In this context, linguistic awareness is interpreted as an invariant of possible schemes of mastering reality, which is most suitable for the purposes of communication between people. The analysis of markers of the junior high school students’ linguistic awareness development proved that when an active (cognitive-communicative) model of artificial bilingualism is implemented, the respondents demonstrate statistically better results in listening, understanding the content of oral expression in a familiar everyday context and in identifying communicative competences.

Learning English for Faith Work: The Australian Experience of Non-Anglophone Catholic Missionaries

ABSTRACT The Catholic Church is the oldest religious institution in the West and the biggest Christian denomination in Australia. Its success is partly due to its sustained efforts to supply missionaries across the globe. While the traditional missionary paradigm involved Europe-born religious workers being sent to colonies, this flow has been reversed in recent years. Increasingly, priests from the Global South are serving in Global North churches. This reversal of mission flows involves shifting from learning peripheral languages to learning center languages. This shift has important, but little understood implications in this context where language learning has moral consequences. This qualitative study examines the English language learning experiences in Australia of missionaries from Asia, Africa, and Latin America, highlighting their language socialization practices, challenges, and ideologies. Findings contribute to theorizing Catholic missionaries as a community of practice whose language learning strategies and views are partly shaped by their religious identity.

‘Openness in Action’ Early Steps in Cosmic Phenomenology

‘Openness in Action’ Early Steps in Cosmic Phenomenology

Pemberdayaan Kelompok Guru Matematika Menerjemahkan Sumber Teks Penalaran Tingkat Tinggi Berbahasa Inggris dengan Google Translate Berbasis Android di Kabupaten Soppeng

English is the world's social language, but teachers still have limitations, especially in translating English texts. The purpose of the service is to provide counselling, training and then assistance for groups of teachers who are involved in the mathematics teacher consultations. The activity involved 28 mathematics teachers as delegates for each school or madrasa in Soppeng Regency. The activity was carried out on two days from 08.00 to 16.00 WITA. Each stage is carried out pre-test and post-test. Data analysis used percentages and paired t-tests with a significance level of 0.05. The results of the service show that 1) the participants' gestures before and after the activity have improved in a better direction, 2) the participants' understanding of translating text in the form of words, syllables, sentences and paragraphs has increased, 3) the skills of participants in translating English texts have increased by an average of 80%, 4 ) there was a significant difference in the improvement before and after counselling, training, and teacher assistance in translating high-level reasoning English text sources. Therefore, improving the ability and skills of translating English texts can use three stages, namely counselling, training and then assistance using text sources from international journals or international standard mathematics questions.

ACADEMIC AND NON-ACADEMIC LANGUAGE SOCIALIZATION FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS AT AN INDONESIAN PUBLIC UNIVERSITY

Academic language socialization refers to the process of helping students to gain knowledge of the language and an ability to participate in new discourse communities by using the language appropriately. Previous research mostly discussed language socialization from students’ perspectives in overseas, such as in Taiwan, America, and Malaysia. In Indonesia, academic language socialization is still less explored, whereas Indonesia is incessantly to internationalize the university by receiving international students from around the world. Therefore, this research is designed to explore academic language socialization for international students from the university administrators’ perspectives, focusing on the university policies, academic and non-academic supports, and challenges. To collect the data, the researcher interviewed five participants; the director of postgraduate, the head of department of masters in Economics and Development Studies, the head of the language centre, one lecturer, and one international student. In addition, the researcher also did classroom observations, [W1] and document analysis (i.e., policy documents). By using interactive data analysis by Miles, et al. (2014), the findings revealed that there were gaps between the applicable policies and implementations.[W2] To overcome the gaps, the university provided academic and non-academic support. For academic supports, the university provided the language center support for international students to have Indonesian language training both for general purposes, and academic purposes. For non-academic supports, the university provided the international students with some facilities, such as housing, cultural studies, vacation together, and art and culture festival. However, there were also several challenges both from bottom-up and top-down perspectives. The challenges were the results of the gaps between the applicable policies and implementations in receiving international students at the university. This result implies the need to reformulate policies of recruitment of international students and provide better academic and non-academic support for the students.

Testimonios of Mexican American Students Along the Community College Pathway: Intercultural Conciencia as an Act of Responsiveness

Objective: The purpose of this study is to better understand the lived experiences and familial culture that influence the college decisions and experiences of Mexican American students in a community college in Oregon. The research questions guiding this study are “What early schooling experiences affect the college experiences of Mexican American students?” and “How does familial culture influence students’ decision to attend community college?” Method: The study was based on testimonios that explored the lived experiences of Mexican American students. Each participant was interviewed. All data were recorded and then transcribed for themes. Results: The findings that emerged across student testimonios in relation to language socialization, cultural affirmation, and animo de familia emphasized the need for an intercultural competency. Students’ decisions to attend college and their overall understanding of their place in education are connected to cultural factors. Contributions: The authors call for higher education faculty and staff to consider what these themes can teach about the lived experiences of Mexican American students and the effects they have on their college education. It is advised that through conocimientos, educators can develop intercultural conciencia in order to better contribute to the educational retention and success of minoritized students.

Student Perspectives of Academic Discourse Socialization in British Columbia Offshore Schools in China

ABSTRACT This study examines the second language academic discourse socialization of two Chinese students who attended British Columbia (Canada) offshore schools in China. After an overview of offshore school structures in China, this article describes the perspectives and experiences of recent offshore school graduates interviewed at a Canadian university. This multiple case study uses semi-structured interviews, written responses, and educational documents as data sources. Framed by theories of academic (discourse) socialization and (second) language socialization, the findings illustrate the significance and meaning that participants placed on learning and navigating Canadian educational discourses and expectations. The findings reveal that, in addition to developing English language competencies, participants constructed offshore student identities through recognizing the importance of academic socialization into student-centered learning, project-based assessment, and learning rules and norms of academic research essays. These findings provide perspectives of offshore schools from student perspectives and have implications for offshore, international, and public schools.

Peer socialization in an oral preschool classroom

Informed by the perspectives of Language Socialization and the Social Model of Childhood Disability, and using the method of Conversation Analysis, I investigate the communicative practices that facilitate peer socialization processes in an oral classroom for deaf or hard-of-hearing preschoolers. Analyses show how children's interactions serve as mechanisms for socialization into norms and behaviors similar to what we see in general preschool settings, as well as those that are specific to their oral classroom. The children's varying communication skills and competencies enable different abilities and methods for peer teaching, illustrating the ever-shifting roles of socializing ‘experts’ and ‘novices.’ Additionally, the children orient to recipient design in peer interaction, further demonstrating how they actively work to socialize each other. Data is drawn from 9 h of video-recordings in one oral classroom in California.

Identity, language socialization, and family language policies in dialect contact: the case of Argentinean immigrants in Malaga, Spain

AbstractThis paper explores from a qualitative and quantitative approach, the complex interactions between second dialect accommodation or acquisition, language socialization, ideologies, family language policies, and identity, among Argentinean immigrants living in Malaga, Spain (n = 72). We found that family language policies – and more specifically mothers’ language policies and their stances towards both varieties in contact – shape their children’s development, connect with their formal school success, determine D1 maintenance, and even affect identity projection. We also found discrepancies between conservative family language policies and linguistic production: what families try to do with language does not always match their own linguistic performance. Through the analysis of different language components – phonological, morpho-syntactic, and lexical – we conclude that linguistic accommodation or second dialect acquisition does not always follow a linear path to assimilation, but it is related to early stages of exposure and formal education in the D2 community (optimal age acquisition period), takes place to improve mutual intelligibility, derives from both unconscious and conscious decisions to change D1, and allows speakers to showcase different identities through accommodation or divergence.

Heritage language socialization at work: Spanish in Miami

Abstract In recent decades, the increasingly blurred boundaries between work, home, and various other spheres of social life have brought greater complexity to the notion of the workplace. In many contemporary workplace environments in the U.S., the demand for Spanish is unequivocal and uncontested; in some areas, Spanish is a de facto requirement. Because U.S. Latinx bilinguals show a broad social preference for English and lack formal education in Spanish, they may feel challenged to meet workplace language demands in Spanish, particularly where specialized vocabulary or formal registers are concerned. Carried out in the highly dynamic bilingual context of Miami, this study posed the following questions: Do adult heritage speakers of Spanish in Miami – where a broad majority of the population speaks Spanish – appear to draw linguistic benefits from participation in the local labor market? Does this participation have the potential to curtail language loss? To answer these questions, semi-structured interviews were carried out with heritage speakers of Spanish in Miami. Their personal accounts of adult heritage language socialization suggest that Spanish use in the U.S. workplace is a highly situated, localized discourse practice that depends largely on the individuals involved. Despite the uncontested value of Spanish in Miami and the demand to speak it in most workplace settings, conscious choice to do so remains with the individual. The participants’ related experiences reveal the importance of speaker agency and manifest the potential of workplace environments to engender more positive orientations toward Spanish as well as active use of the language during adulthood.

Workplace English Training

In today's global society, business is increasingly conducted across borders, with English often used as the language of international communication. Being able to use English in the workplace has many benefits, including: helping your business succeed, building trust with colleagues and customers, building and improving international relationships, enhancing skills, earn good salaries and improve international relations through cultural understanding. Workplace cultures and organizations are changing as they adapt to globalization and rapid technological developments. Likewise, the nature and role of language in work and literacy requirements in the workplace are changing in the face of increasingly multicultural work environments and global networks of communication. Among these changes, recent research has highlighted the role of informal modes of interpersonal communication in the functioning of the modern workplace. Successful participation in such interactions should not only be seen as a matter of social inclusion but also as a verbal activity. This article reviews current research on the nature of language in the workplace, with particular attention to the contributions of ethnographic research and language socialization. It then discusses research on four aspects of language content in employment programs: employability skills, interpersonal communication, intercultural openness, and the importance of language and Pedagogy focuses on job interviews. These soft skills are just as important as your language skills in building lasting business relationships and can help you develop an awareness of cultural differences that can define how you communicate and how to interpret your words