Negotiation Of Meaning Research Articles

Task-Based Negotiation of Meaning Through a Mobile Messaging Platform

In situations where Korean university students have insufficient opportunities to communicate in English on a daily basis, using a mobile instant messaging (MIM) application for English interactions can provide them with more chances to practice the target language and negotiate meaning. This study aimed to explore Korean university students’ negotiation of meaning through different tasks using an MIM application and how these tasks influence their meaning negotiation during communicative activities on the platform. This study adopted a mixed-method approach, combining surveys and message observations to collect data. The findings showed that students perceived negotiating meaning through the MIM platform as both interesting and useful for their English learning. They valued the opportunity to communicate and negotiate meaning in English at any time and from anywhere, based on tasks. However, some challenges related to these communicative experiences were also reported. The findings indicated that some English translation applications were utilized during task-based communicative activities. Overall, the study found that students enjoyed discussing specific topics while completing various types of tasks and they experienced several benefits during their English interactions with peers on the MIM platform. The impact of different task types on meaning negotiation was also discussed.

Collaborative reading and foreign language learning with literature

Teletandem is a virtual exchange context designed by Telles and Vassallo (2006), in which two learners of different foreign languages meet in video conferencing platforms so that one helps the other in their learning process. These meetings are divided in two parts, each of them focused on the use of one of the languages, so that both have the opportunity to practice their target language. Since 2019, a thematic teletandem has been carried out so that participants do tasks related to the discussion of literary texts, which was named Literatandem. In this practice report, an interaction will be presented, in which two partners discussed a Literatandem activity to demonstrate how sharing interpretations of a literary text can expand the understanding of a text in a foreign language. As a result, it was noted that the tasks incited participants to exchange prior knowledge and negotiate meaning, which expanded the way they perceived language and allowed them to have new interpretations of the texts.

Critical Issues in Interculturality for Young Language Learners

This study critically addresses key issues related to interculturality among young language learners, focusing on an international primary school in Shenzhen, China. Interculturality is framed from a non-essentialist perspective, emphasizing the dynamic and reciprocal negotiation of meaning between individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds. The research explores how intercultural understanding can be cultivated through interactive pedagogical strategies such as storytelling and storycrafting, which facilitate both language learning and cultural exchange. The study highlights the unique characteristics of young learners, noting that their innate curiosity and active engagement make them well-suited to these approaches. Additionally, it examines the practical challenges of integrating intercultural encounters into language education, including the need for specialized teacher training and the complexity of managing diverse linguistic backgrounds. The study concludes that fostering interculturality in young learners requires a shift from traditional cultural instruction to engaging students in authentic, interactive experiences. These approaches not only enhance language acquisition but also promote deeper intercultural understanding and prepare students for global citizenship.

Translating Blackness through youth language learning in the Dominican Republic

AbstractThis article presents findings from a six‐month Language and Social Justice course collaboratively designed with multilingual educators in the Dominican Republic. Teaching and learning processes with Dominican and Haitian youth (ages 18–24) illustrate how opportunities to learn about English and Kreyòl from a transnational perspective can disrupt dominant discourses about youth's relationships with themselves and each other. By intentionally focusing on counternarratives to notions that Dominican youth reject their Blackness and that Dominican and Haitian youth interact in tension rather than solidarity, this study highlights how youth “translate blackness” (García Peña, 2022) through language learning. Drawing from transnational literacy frameworks that engage the cultural and linguistic repertoires of Black youth in relationship with one another (Skerrett & Omogun, 2020; Smith, 2023) and from Black‐centered language pedagogies (Anya, 2017; Clemons, 2021b), I describe how youth negotiate meanings and orientations to Blackness through language and literacy practices.

Translations of climate change consequences at the local level: Climate change adaptation in Bergen and Stavanger municipalities in Norway

AbstractThis paper uncovers a local‐level approach to the likely adverse effects of climate change through climate change policies, measures and practices concerning climate change adaptation. The study is sustained by the literature that addresses climate change through a securitization lens, which has identified security discourses on climate change in terms of threat or risk. To understand the origin of local discourse, we have adopted the concepts of translations and translation zones from security studies, allowing us to define encounters between different conceptual expressions of ways to handle threats and risks. In this paper, ‘translations’ mean negotiations of meanings between security, threat and risk, and ‘translation zones’ indicate where these negotiations take place. Discourses are studied in the two Norwegian municipalities of Bergen and Stavanger. Both experience similar consequences of climate change and are bound to follow national laws and regulations for developing adaptive responses. Despite these similarities, translations and translation zones unveil differences in the organisation of adaptation work. Risk discourses thus allow several possible translation pathways, and adaptation remains a distinctly local phenomenon despite commonalities in risk discourse and translation processes.

Manifesting learning in the workplace: an activity theoretical study of professional learning in preschool using active learning classrooms

PurposeThe purpose of this study is the development of a methodology that draws on activity theory (AT) to assess educators’ and leaders’ professional learning in a pre-school setting.Design/methodology/approachThe paper reports on a case study of professional development in an active learning classroom (ALC) where 20 professionals participated in a one-day writing workshop. AT was used to analyse the writing workshop as well as data from reflective writing, video recordings, interviews and surveys.FindingsThe paper shows that professional development is significantly influenced by a range of mediating technologies used in educational spaces such as the ALC. The mediated practice breaks normal work practice in the pre-school activity system and division of labour roles, and hierarchical positions and professional relationships. Such a break is considered to facilitate a manifestation of professional learning. However, it also poses a risk for organisational disruptions emphasising the need for diagnostic understanding when an ALC should be used for capturing workplace learning.Practical implicationsStructured writing workshops – taking place in ALCs – provide a suitable forum that breaks with routines, accelerates collective reflections and articulation of negotiated meaning and produces a common ground across hierarchical roles supporting collective professional development in the activity system.Originality/valueUnlike previous research focusing on student perspectives, this study views these spaces as settings for professionals to recognise and solve developmental problems. It suggests that structured writing workshops in ALCs can accelerate collective reflection and support collective professional development across hierarchical roles.

Code-Switching in a Legal English Class for Egyptian Learners: A Conversation Analysis Case Study

This article addresses how code-switching facilitates language acquisition in an online legal English classroom for Arabic-speaking learners. The study aims to describe and analyze the use of code-switching as a facilitative resource for second language acquisition, particularly within the context of the online classroom. The article holds significance in two key areas: first, it contributes to the existing literature on code-switching between Arabic and English in language learning contexts. Second, it addresses a gap in research by focusing on an underexplored context: online legal English classes for Arabic-speaking learners, a topic which has not been widely researched. Applying Conversation Analysis to fragments from the online class, the findings reveal that code-switching serves as a vital resource for learners in comprehending complex legal concepts by drawing on their first language (L1) knowledge (in this case, Arabic). It also facilitates word searching, collaborative learning, and effective negotiation of meaning, aiding in the overall second language (L2) acquisition process.

Narrative construction of vocational identity in university students: The role of influential experiences and significant others in the framework of cultural psychology

This study sought to understand the process of construction of the vocational identity of university students. Assuming cultural psychology as a theoretical reference, a qualitative methodology was adopted, with a narrative perspective. In-depth interviews were conducted with 20 participants, male and female engineering, and psychology students from two universities in Colombia about their exploration process, choice, commitment, and reconsideration to the career. In the findings the vocational identity emerges as a product of the negotiation of meanings between the personal dimension and the social dimension of individuals, which allows them to intentionally orient their actions towards the achievement of their life goals. In turn, the negotiation between these two dimensions occurs through psychosocial processes derived from the influential experiences and interactions with significant others. These processes facilitate the appropriation of the folk psychology of a socio-cultural context, a background of meanings about occupational and/or educational practices on which the vocational identity is configured. It is concluded that vocational identity is a process in constant formation shaped by a social scaffolding mechanism; namely, support structures that provided by the relational resource in the context of everyday interactions and that assist in the configuration of vocational identity of young people. It has an important organizing function of experiences, emotions, cognitions, and actions in the occupational and educational spheres. The conceptual model validated by the findings allows understanding the process of negotiation of identity meanings and the construction of possible vocational worlds.

Negotiating Meaning with Machines: AI's Role in Doctoral Writing Pedagogy

AbstractThis paper examines the integration of generative artificial intelligence (AI) in doctoral writing pedagogy. It explores how AI augments traditional teaching and composition processes, fosters a new paradigm of cognitive engagement and collaborative academic writing, and the broader ethical and social implications of human-AI writing in doctoral writing pedagogy. A community-engaged participatory research methodology was employed within a Doctor of Healthcare Administration program. Data were collected through discussion board messages, self-assessment papers, student reflections, and a focus group interview, and analyzed using thematic analysis. The research unearthed a hybrid human-AI writing process characterized by dynamic brainstorming, continuous negotiation of meaning, and comparative evaluation. These practices enhanced students' cognitive and metacognitive engagement, confidence, and learner agency, signifying a shift toward a collaborative approach to academic writing. The findings highlight the need for academic institutions to adapt policies and curricula to incorporate AI technologies ethically and responsibly. Emphasis on AI literacy and academic integrity is crucial for preparing graduates for an AI-integrated workforce. This study contributes to the understanding of AI's role in doctoral education, specifically doctoral writing development, presenting a novel perspective on the synergistic collaboration between students and AI in academic writing and its implications for institutional policies and writing pedagogy.

Orations and the Didactic Motifs of Elizabethan Progresses

Memorializing Queen Elizabeth’s progresses and their pageantry from the middle-to-late sixteenth through the early seventeenth centuries requires that we examine how her royalty was represented in Medievalist art and prose. Ceremonial displays of Elizabeth’s aristocratic nobility included prayers, sermons, tribute tracts and ballads, sonnets, verse poems, personal letters, and brilliant speeches just to name a few of the major literary mediums. As Roy Strong wrote about in The Cult of Elizabeth, images were meant to be read, and the inscriptions placed on miniatures and portraits emphasized the significance of details in paintings. It became clear through the diverse speeches given at the Queen’s hosted lodgings at various English cities that evoking as much symbolism one could in writing and reading would endear Elizabeth’s pleasure, but it was not the only way of getting the Queen’s attention. Gift-giving was a favorite practice. As such, creative symbolism and objects of devotion needed other means of demonstration, and this had especially shown up in literary motifs and mythology. In this paper, I argue that historians must recognize the ways orations and speeches worked as publicized letters during the pageantry of Elizabeth, making her court’s progresses a means of political, social, and religious negotiations with representations of empire. These verbal acts of negotiation supplanted private relationships that predominated pre-Reformation England and made Elizabeth’s Tudor, imperial authority over church and state more visceral in uniting ceremonial practices and promoting England.

Relational Ontology in the Mapuche Thinking: Possibilities for Indigenous Well-Being Amidst Colonial Settings

The imposition of a colonial mindset over indigenous peoples and their relational understanding of life is a common experience in the Global South. Forced displacement and subordination are also part of history in which cultural manners to preserve balance with the environment were severely altered. This article delves into the case of the Mapuche people, an indigenous group from Latin America that faces old and new expressions of colonialism. Because of structural discrimination, the health outcomes of the Mapuche people have been affected, including mental health. In this scenario, intercultural health experiences have been implemented to address the needs of the Mapuche population. Intercultural health policy emerges as an arena in which indigenous understanding of well-being is once again subjugated. From the author’s indigenous position, possibilities for well-being come through the negotiation of meanings and power that complicate indigenous life in colonial settings. Moreover, the subalternization of indigenous perspectives within scientific spaces is acknowledged as an obstacle to achieving horizontality in academic networks and to constructing meaningful interventions.

Food Communication to Strengthen Cultural Identity: A Case Study on Saparan Bekakak Traditions in Indonesia

Food has a crucial role in human culture and social interaction. Food is vital in various traditional ceremonies and rituals, especially in Javanese culture. Saparan Bekakak is a Javanese tradition that uses food or offerings as a ritual symbol. Food communication is a field of study that studies how food functions as a medium of communication in social and cultural contexts. This study explores the food communication model in strengthening the cultural identity of Saparan Bekakak as a noble tradition of the Indonesian nation. This research uses a constructivist paradigm with a qualitative research design for the type of case study. The subjects in this study consisted of nine participants, including community leaders (kamituwo, dukuh, bekakak bride makers, cooks, and offerings), local communities, and visitors to the Saparan Bekakak traditional ceremony. The data collection techniques in this study consist of interviews, observations, and documentation. Data analysis in the study consists of several steps (i.e., data reduction, data presentation, and conclusion drawn) as well as source triangulation and triangulation techniques to ensure the validity of the research data. This study finds a food communication model that strengthens the cultural identity of Saparan Bekakak as a noble tradition of the Indonesian nation. Food in the tradition of saparan bekakak is interpreted as a form of gratitude blessings, a medium of communication with ancestors for safety, cultural enlightenment, and strengthening solidarity/togetherness. There are variations and shifts in the meaning of food in the Saparan Bekakak tradition, encouraging the negotiation of meaning, which catalyses the renewal and strengthening of identity. Culture. This research's implications or theoretical impact are in the form of theoretical contributions about food communication that can construct and strengthen cultural identity and practically in the form of food communication models that can be applied to enhance cultural identity, especially in the Saparan Bekakak tradition.

Negotiation in group interaction: Longitudinal evidence from Chinese postgraduate EFL learners

Negotiation serves to solve communication problems in second language (L2) learners’ peer interaction including negotiation of meaning (NoM), negotiation of form (NoF), negotiation of content (NoC) and negotiation of procedure (NoP). The four negotiation types are initiated through negotiation strategies. This study examined how negotiation types and negotiation strategies were distributed and how the distributions developed. The data came from five rounds of group interaction conducted by 52 Chinese postgraduate students in a semester. The findings reveal significant differences in the distributions of negotiation types and negotiation strategies. NoC occurred significantly more frequently than NoM and NoF. Each negotiation type had its major negotiation strategies and they had significantly higher percentages than the other negotiation strategies. Specifically, NoM was mostly initiated by clarification requests, NoF by recasts, NoC by explicit appeals for assistance, and NoP by direct negotiations. Both competitive and supportive growths occurred in the longitudinal trajectories. This study provides a comprehensive and developmental insight into negotiation in EFL learners’ peer interaction and offers significant pedagogical implications.

Locality as a space for negotiation and resistance in local television

Background: Local television has an important role in displaying local culture and identity. This role is becoming crucial amidst the dominance of Jakarta’s national television, which not only broadcasts certain cultures and groups but also tends to be biased. Purpose: This study was conducted to explain how locality is used as a means of negotiation and resistance of local television against the domination of national television. Method: This research was conducted using qualitative methods by taking local television, RBTV, part of the national television network Kompas TV, as a case. Data was collected with in-depth interviews, observations, and documents. Result: This research shows that although local television has limited broadcast time (5 hours), it creatively uses locality to negotiate and resist the domination of national television. RBTV uses three tactics to bargain its position with Kompas TV. First, they negotiate the presenter’s standard. For instance, RBTV welcomes presenters who speak at standard speed but does not accept people with oriental faces and Jakarta accents. Second, they broadcast local communities to increase engagement with the audience. Third, they broadcast local culture, such as tradition, customs, food, and fashion. Conclusion: RBTV makes the most of its time to serve and show the local community. Something that Jakarta national television cannot do well. Implications: Local television has become an “arena” for cultural battles and acts as an actor. The thesis of imperialism and cultural domination in the context of RBTV fails. This research suggests the importance of studies with a local perspective so that the dialogue between local, national and global cultures can be investigated.

Using Cross-Linguistic-Cultural Interferences as a Means for Meaning Negotiation in Classroom Discourse

The process of encoding and decoding discussions about the nature of discussed meaning is affected by items from the previous learned languages, which means that the negotiation of meaning carried implied in cross-linguistic transfers and so for cultural interferences affects how learners interpret the negotiated foreign locutions. A sample of twenty adult students from The Center of Intensive Teaching of Languages (CEIL) at Ibn Khaldoun University of Tiaret (Algeria) was the subjects of observations, interviews, and experiments during our investigation into this phenomenon. Through treatment, discussion, and analysis of the data collected in the district of Tiaret (Algeria), we were able to gain a deeper comprehension of the topic under investigation. Later advances led to the conceptualization of the phenomenon's constituent elements. This made it possible for us to classify its elements by figuring out how the researched structure affected the adult learners' abilities to learn foreign concepts in the target language, as well as how frequently and at what rate it occurred. The degree to which the previously learned languages have an impact on meaning negotiation depends critically on how these concepts are interpreted.

Judges’ reformulations in judicial interpretation in Chinese judgments

Abstract In hybrid legal contexts in China, judges’ speech acts of reformulating rules serve to demonstrate their ideological and linguistic preferences in law enforcement. A comparative analysis of judges’ reformulations in judgments in the traditional (imperial) and contemporary periods in this study discloses a disparity in their speech style over time. Though judges in the two periods both navigate between the ethical discourse and the legal discourse in the negotiation of meaning in law, traditional judges are found to have reformulated rules from various sources, particularly those of Confucian classics, acting as more of a constructive legal interpreter. In contrast, contemporary judges tend to reformulate rules of the codified law in a more monologic style, thereby displaying greater respect for the autonomy of law in their reformulations. These differences are interpreted from a socio-cultural standpoint.

Grounded in liquidity: writing and identity in third space

In this article, we argue that writing for publication has the potential to support the creation, negotiation and stabilisation of the professional identities of third space practitioners in higher education. Caught in the impermanence and unpredictability of liquid life, third space opens up unique opportunities in writing that afford its practitioners a means of building and sustaining identity. It expands academic writing beyond its normative constraints, creating a tension between the apparent permanence and solidity of writing and the liquidity that allows for the negotiation of meaning and identity. As such, writing, particularly for dissemination, provides third space practitioners with a strategy for creating a grounding narrative that helps to stabilise their own identity while allowing the flexibility required by a ‘liquid’ and uncertain present. We explore this process of negotiation by examining the role of writing in identity formation from the perspective of a range of third space practitioners, in an international triple-site qualitative research study involving learning developers, learning designers, academic developers and writing specialists. Our findings reveal that writing, as an act of negotiation of identity in third space, has the potential to actuate the fluidity of the space, so that it can become a site of liberation and resistance that may transform the very act of scholarly writing. What our study shows is that writing offers third space practitioners an opportunity to establish a narrative thread that may stabilise their liquid roles in academia.

Boosting Students’ ESP Vocabulary by Utilizing AI Chatbot

Technology integration in foreign language learning is a must today. One of the issues is the utilization of artificial intelligence (AI) Chatbot in English language teaching. Some studies have mentioned the benefits and advantages of using AI Chatbot. Nonetheless, none of the studies examines deeply on hoe ESP vocabulary. To fill the gaps, this study examines the effect of AI Chatbot especially Dialogflow enhanced the ESP vocabulary acquisition. The experimental comparison of two groups—an experience group and a control group—is the backbone of this study in order to accomplish that purpose. Both groups underwent pre-tests and post-tests to assess the effectiveness of utilizing AI chatbot in learning ESP vocabulary. The chatbot content was meticulously constructed to incorporate vocabulary features such as synonyms and concise explanations of word meanings. The study's findings revealed that utilizing chatbots significantly improves the acquisition of ESP vocabulary. It was found that students in the experimental group that used Dialogflow, a chatbot, performed better than students in the control group. To add, the study suggests that chatbots could be utilized in many situations to enhance language learning in general or in specific ESP courses. A chatbot provides a stimulating setting to facilitate positive interactions where the negotiation of meaning occurs explicitly, which appears to greatly benefit learners in advancing their second language lexical development.

L2 Pragmatic Development in Constructing and Negotiating Contextual Meanings

Abstract The way in which L2 learners construct pragmatic and social meanings, including stances and identities, is emerging as an important research concern. In this study, we explore how L2 learners develop the ability to construct and negotiate pragmatic and social meanings, with a focus on meanings manifested in specific contexts, namely, contextual meanings. Specifically, we trace the development made by a group of 30 L2 Korean learners in their understanding of the contextual meanings of Korean first-person pronouns over the provision of L1- and L2-generated input and an awareness raising activity. Our findings reveal that provision of input of the underlying stereotypical meanings facilitated learners’ (re-)construction and negotiation of contextual meanings. The learners developed from oversimplistic form-meaning connections to more context-based and internally logical interpretations of contextual meanings, constructed new contextual meanings from the input, and agentively negotiated between the input and their existing indexical systems. The findings raise important pedagogical implications, including reconsideration of the assessment of pragmatic and sociolinguistic competence.

Impact of task type and task complexity on negotiation of meaning in young learners of Chinese as a second language

Abstract Negotiation of meaning (NoM) has played a facilitative role in second language acquisition. However, the existing studies have primarily focused on adult English language learners. This study investigated the impact of task type and task complexity on NoM strategies among young learners of Chinese as a second language, an underexplored group. The participants were 110 students in Hong Kong aged 10–12, mainly from Pakistan, India, Philippines, and Nepal. They were asked to perform four tasks with different task types and levels of task complexity in Cantonese (the primary Chinese dialect spoken in Hong Kong). In terms of task type, the study found that required information exchange tasks (i.e., information gap tasks) produced significantly more clarification requests, confirmation checks, self-repetitions, and other repetitions in terms of total numbers and numbers per 100 Chinese characters than the optional exchange tasks (i.e., decision-making tasks). Complex tasks, on the other hand, elicited significantly more confirmation checks than simple tasks. These findings provide useful insights for designing tasks that can promote greater use of NoM strategies in classroom practice.