Negotiation Of Meaning Research Articles

Falantxs Transviadxs: Linguística Queer e performatividades monstruosas

Este artigo apresenta o conceito de falantxs transviadxs, que oferece possibilidades analíticas para entendermos como pessoas em suas práticas locais negociam sentidos para quem são vis-Ã -vis normas que limitam o que podem/devem fazer e como podem/devem falar/escrever, circunscrevendo as fronteiras entre o normal/ideal e o abjeto/monstruoso. O artigo propõe uma perspectiva analítica queer guiada pelos conceitos de indexicalidade e corporificação. Revisito dados gerados em uma pesquisa etnográfica sobre prevenção de infecções sexualmente transmissíveis entre travestis com o intuito de entender como performances transviadas (i.e. aquelas que reviram e misturam múltiplos repertórios linguísticos e bagunçam regimes de ordenação do comportamento generificado) emergem e a que propósitos servem localmente.

Verbal Evidence of Task-related Strategies in EFL

The benefits of task-based interaction in Second Language Learning (SLL) have been made increasingly evident in the literature. However, unlike adult studies, only recently has interaction research on EFL children grown in popularity. Most children-based research has focused primarily on Negotiation of Meaning, while other age-related aspects, including a more comprehensive analysis of how adults and children perform and resolve tasks, remain relatively unexplored. This paper addresses this gap by analysing the similarities and differences in the task-related strategies of twenty children aged 8 and 9 and fourteen adult L1-Spanish EFL learners at low levels of competence in paired interaction. Results provide evidence of clear age-related differences, as adults were more consistent and approached the task in a more predictable and efficient fashion. Findings also point to task repetition as a key factor leading to a more successful performance in both groups, even more markedly in the case of children.

Speaking Subskills in EFL Coursebooks

The primary goal of most EFL students is to achieve fluency in the target language and become autonomous speakers who can react naturally in most situations. To achieve this, mastery of speaking subskills is crucial. The paper aims to identify how well specific subskills, i.e. negotiation of meaning and agenda management, are represented and developed in EFL coursebooks. Twenty coursebooks approved by the Slovene Ministry of Education, Science and Sport for 3rd and 4th year grammar school students are reviewed.
 The number of all recorded subskills in the reviewed coursebooks suggests that less than a third are covered in each coursebook. Skills in negotiation of meaning are better represented than skills in agenda management in terms of the number of occurrences, the location within the unit and variety of skills. However, there are no significant differences among the remaining teaching elements. The study also indicates that most activities do not contain practice of meaning/form and pronunciation of target phrases. Although communicative activities are mostly present, they lack authenticity and are thus not sufficiently motivating for the target group.
 The results of the study can serve as a recommendation for secondary school teachers as to the type of speaking subskills, their presence in English coursebooks as well as the detail with which they are covered. Practical teaching advice is given on how the lack of variety in the selected subskills, as well as the quality of related activities can be resolved.

Knowledge Translation and Its Interrelation with Usability and Accessibility. Biocultural Diversity Translated by Means of Technology and Language—The Case of Citizen Science Contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals

Translation plays an important role in all areas of human activity. Despite its primary role of overcoming language barriers, it is used as an analogy for activities that require transfer, mediation, or negotiation of meaning. Knowledge translation is a concept that links knowledge to action, which is also at the heart of citizen science. Several studies have highlighted the ways in which citizen science can contribute to the definition, monitoring and implementation of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Although these studies emphasized the importance of data contributions for SDG reporting and monitoring purposes, this paper applies the concept of knowledge translation to citizen science for achieving the SDGs based on the conceptual framework provided by translation studies. Knowledge translation, citizen science, and the SDGs have their focus on actions and negotiations in common. Citizen science can, thus, be regarded as a mediator between science and the SDGs or a mediator between the public and policymakers. Exemplified by biocultural diversity, this paper analyzes the application of knowledge translation to the SDGs in and through citizen science. Citizen science guided by the SDGs requires different forms of knowledge ((and) translation) that are usable, accessible, and meaningful.

Socioemotional interactions in collaborative learning: An analysis from the perspective of semiotic cultural psychology

Research into socioemotional interactions in collaborative learning situations has focused on their positive or negative effects. Emphasis has also been placed on how affective aspects contribute to cognitive ones. The present work shows this type of interactions from the perspective of intersubjectivity in the framework of cultural semiotic psychology. Using naturalistic observation in a collaborative learning situation, the results show moments of intersubjectivity based on negotiation and transformation of meanings. Finally, five interrelated dimensions in collaborative learning according to the perspective of semiotic cultural psychology are discussed, these being affectivity-cognition, interactions, disquieting experience and tensión, transformation of meanings and new interactions.

Appropriating Indigenous lands: the liberal founding of Manitoba

ABSTRACT This article examines the language and strategies of Canadian land expansion through the founding of Manitoba in 1870. It analyses the discourse of key colonial authorities, which reveal that Canada mobilises the ideals of liberalism to promote the colonial policy of appropriating Indigenous lands. Because liberalism endures as the dominant paradigm that both structure contemporary politics and contemporary thinking about politics in the West, it is critical to clarify the connection between liberalism and the wrongs of land appropriation. Examining the role of liberal ideas in the founding of Manitoba also helps defuse the capacity of liberalism to produce dispossession, especially of Indigenous Peoples. In addition to exposing the ideas that supported the production of Canadian sovereignty, this article also analyses the various tactics Canada deployed to secure that sovereignty amidst Indigenous resistance. If Canadian officials first opted to absorb Indigenous lands through the ‘gentle’ means of administration, declaration and negotiation, they resorted to military forces when Indigenous Peoples frustrated Canadian claims to sovereignty. By bringing into focus the shifting tactics that Canadian state officials employed to annex Indigenous lands, the founding of Manitoba enriches our understanding of settler colonial statecraft and of the distinctive means of settler state expansion.

Task closure and task complexity effects on L2 written performance

Although a major line of task-based research investigates the effects of task condition, little attention has been paid to the differential effects of open vs. closed tasks on L2 learning. Some researchers claim that closed oral interactive tasks are more effective, as the predetermined solution forces learners to continue without giving up, leading to greater negotiation for meaning, language recycling, and provision/incorporation of feedback. Because there is little empirical evidence to support such claims, the present study was conducted to investigate the combined effects of task closure and task complexity on the L2 written performance of 83 Korean learners of English.Participants performed two tasks whose task complexity was operationalized as number of elements. Half of the participants carried out closed task versions, and the other half carried out open versions. Greater task complexity was found to increase cognitive load shown by learner self-ratings, expert judgments, and time-on-task measures. Regarding written performance, greater task complexity had significant effects on lexical diversity and proportion of target-like use of articles. Contrary to previous claims, open tasks were found to elicit greater lexical diversity than closed tasks.

Collective Learning at the Boundaries of Communities of Practice: Inclusive Policymaking at the World Bank

ABSTRACT This article explains the emergence of inclusive practices at the World Bank as a collective learning process between communities of practice. Contributing to the literature on practices and cognitive evolution in International Relations, this theory of learning goes beyond socialisation or meaning negotiation in communities in focusing on the translation of knowledge at the boundaries of communities of practice. This article also contributes to scholarship on international organisations in theorising communities and social processes that transcend formal boundaries. In brief, it develops three processes of change through collective learning (boundary encounters, brokerage, and the use of epistemic boundary objects) to understand the emergence of inclusive policymaking practices at the World Bank. Finally, it empirically explores how the Uganda Poverty Eradication Action Plan in 1997 participated in this collective learning. This research is based on 21 first-hand interviews, twenty publicly available interviews and extensive archival work.

초등영어 6학년 교사용지도서의 교실 담화 분석

This study examines classroom discourses in primary English teachers’ guides of 2015 revised national curriculum for English. To this end, it analyzed the structures of teacher-student discourses and the functions of teachers’ initiations and feedbacks in the five guides for teaching 6th-grade English. Major findings are as follows. First, the two most frequent discourse structures in the guides were Type I and Type IR, with the former consisting only of teachers’ utterances and the latter terminated by students’ responses following teachers’ questions. Second, the most frequent function of teachers’ initiations was direction, followed by question and explanation. Among their sub-functions, activity direction and display question appeared to be highly frequent. Third, the frequencies of teachers’ feedbacks varied across the guides, but there was an overarching tendency for the highest frequency of the sub-function of reinforcing response. Therefore, this study proposes that teachers’ guides should expand their use of the IRF structure and employ a greater number of referential questions to promote teacher-student interactions and students’ engagement. In addition, appropriate strategies and examples of teacher feedback should be provided to address student errors and foster learning from negotiation of meaning.

Wikis in Language Learning: Merits and Limitations

This study comprehensively reviews the literature associated with the implementation of wikis in an educational context, primarily concerning learning and teaching languages. The study proceeds by presenting wikis and their main theoretical background in a brief overview. After that, a discussion of the most recent empirical studies is presented, followed by an exploration of the merits and the limitations of using wikis in an educational setting. The paper concludes that wikis have a positive impact when it comes to improving learners’ knowledge of various aspects of language, enhancing their autonomy, learning perceptions, and motivation to learn. As a beneficial digital tool, wikis can effectively improve students’ language learning, which is achieved via critical thinking, negotiation of meaning, and collaborative learning, to name a few aspects. Having said this, limitations exist, all of which should be taken seriously by both administrators and teachers alike to maximise wikis’ benefits. Yet, it is increasingly evident that, in this context, wikis’ positives far outweigh their minuses. A number of practical recommendations are offered at the end of this paper to guide teachers, educators, and researchers.

Developing conceptual metaphor–based tasks in the teaching and learning of idiomatic expressions

AbstractGiven the positive effect of teaching idiomatic expressions using the conceptual metaphor (CM) view, and the many benefits of using language tasks in English as a second or foreign language context, this article aims to help teachers design and develop tasks on the basis of CM and task‐based language teaching (TBLT). In this study, a series of tasks was designed around idiomatic expressions derived from the CM ANGER IS A HEATED FLUID IN A CONTAINER using the three‐phase TBLT framework: pretask, main task, and posttask. The pretask phase is meant to introduce the target anger expressions to learners, the main task phase to give learners the opportunity to use these expressions, and the posttask phase to raise learners’ consciousness about these expressions. The objective of these tasks is to promote interaction among learners and as such facilitate negotiation of meaning and form, leading to the learning of the anger expressions in a natural manner. The tasks were designed in such a way that teachers can easily create and implement them in actual classroom settings, especially in those Asian countries where teacher‐centric teaching style is still prevalent.

Learning opportunities in peer-peer interaction: A case study of two L2 Mandarin Chinese learners

Abstract The roles of interaction have been studied for several decades. Recent studies have turned to investigate “the details of which components of interaction might be more or less effective in which contexts with which learners” (Loewen, Shawn & Masatoshi Sato. 2018. Interaction and instructed second language acquisition. Language Teaching 51(3). 285–329: 286). This case study, based on three unstructured interactions outside the classroom between two L2 Mandarin Chinese learners, investigates the learning opportunities these interactions brought about in terms of helping them to increase in control over forms that had already been encountered inside the classroom. Using the concept of the language-related episode (Swain, Merrill & Sharon Lapkin. 1998. Interaction and second language learning: Two adolescent French immersion students working together. The Modern Language Journal 82(3). 320–337), this study sets focus on learning opportunities for lexis- and grammar-related items. It finds learning opportunities arise as the two peers negotiate for meaning motivated by the need to comprehend, strive to use the L2 to express/co-express themselves, and improve their form through the other’s feedback. In addition, lexis-related learning is found to be very positive in this study. The dictionary played an indispensable role in facilitating the learners when they encountered lexis-related issues. Further, it enabled the learners to learn new vocabulary when driven by communicative needs. In comparison, the grammar-related learning is found to be relatively complicated. And the fact the learners had nowhere to resort to concerning grammatical issues attributed to it. In terms of the different types of interactions, compared to learning through negotiation for meaning and feedback, output and co-construction/collaboration were found to be most productive in promoting the learning.

Textbook-assigned and self-selected topics of Iranian male EFL learners: topic interest, topic familiarity, topic importance, and topic difficulty

In recent years, learner-centered teaching has emphasized the demand for making healthy environment where learners’ preferences, interests, personal experiences, cultural backgrounds and lifestyles are taken into account when making decisions about various characteristics of language learning/teaching The choice of topics, which are used in EFL discussion classes, is considered to play an important role in learners’ propensity to engage in a negotiation for meaning. This study was aimed to investigate the perception of Textbook-Assigned and Self-Selected Topics of Iranian male EFL Learners: topic interest, topic familiarity, topic importance, and topic difficulty based on correlational design. It was carried out with 200 male Intermediate EFL learners who were selected by convenience sampling. Although most teachers might be aware of the importance of a good assessment strategy on the topic interest and topic familiarity, rarely do they use it for topic importance and topic difficulty. The results of the study showed that Iranian male EFL learners mostly preferred the topics to be more interesting and familiar in both textbook-assigned (M = 3.1259, SD = .21553, Sig = .000) and self-selected topics (M = 4.0531, SD = .13334, Sig = .000). In addition, there was a significant difference between the learners’ perceptions of textbook-assigned and self-selected topics in terms of interest and familiarity, but less difference in terms of importance and difficulty. The findings of the study indicated that learners’ selection of their own topics can provide the potential implications for their willingness to participate in second and foreign language learning and take responsibility for their own learning process.

Acknowledging Patient Expertise and the Negotiation of Meanings in the Clinical Encounter

Patient non-adherence is a common and important problem in clinical medicine. Some cases of patient non-adherence are cases in which the patient disagrees with the physician’s recommended treatment based on particular reasons. In this chapter, by drawing upon the science and technology studies literature, specifically the discussion by Collins and Evans and also Wynne of how best to understand scientific controversies, I relate their ideas to the analogous conflict that may occur within a clinical encounter. I draw upon their recognition of the importance of contributory expertise and interactional expertise in providing legitimate knowledge. I also draw upon Wynne’s idea of the ‘negotiation of meanings’ as an important element of the clinical interaction. To resolve potential conflicts between patient and physician before they develop into ‘non-adherence’, I propose the need for a new epistemological framework that recognizes legitimate knowledge offered by the patient as well as the physician. By situating this patient expertise framework within the paradigm of person-centred medicine, and by assuming the goal of medical treatment to be treatment of suffering, patient expertise becomes centralized as a means of determining the nature of patient suffering. Two aspects of the patient’s tacit knowledge - the body aspect and the meaning aspect - both of which are context-dependent and directly accessible only to the patient, are thus recognized as knowledge essential to the success of the interaction. The physician’s role becomes that of both medical expert and possessor of interactional expertise, by which the physician recognizes and includes patient expertise in the treatment decision. Finally, the patient expertise framework must also involve recognizing and incorporating the ‘negotiation of meanings’ into the development of a treatment plan. By acknowledging the importance of patient expertise and the negotiation of meanings, this patient expertise framework should dissolve the problem of patient non-adherence that derives from the patient disagreeing with the therapeutic plan.

THE EFFECT OF LEARNER CHOICE ON L2 TASK ENGAGEMENT

AbstractThis study examined the effect of choice on EFL learners’ task engagement. Twenty-four Thai university students completed two opinion-gap tasks. In one, they discussed and agreed on three items among given options (+constraint). In the other, they discussed and agreed on three items among the options they generated (−constraint). Spoken interaction and questionnaires were analyzed for behavioral (time on task, words produced, turns), cognitive (negotiation of meaning and form, self-repairs), social (overlaps and turn completion, backchannels), and emotional engagement (anxiety, enjoyment), based on Philp and Duchesne’s multifaceted model. The −constraint task had positive effects on all the cognitive engagement measures, but only one of the behavioral measures (turns) and one of the social measures (overlaps). Learners reported higher anxiety and enjoyment in the −constraint task. The findings highlight the interrelated multidimensional nature of learner task engagement while suggesting pedagogical implications and avenues for future research.

Capitalising on academics’ transnational experiences in the domestic research environment

ABSTRACT An unprecedented increase in international academic mobility has occurred over the past four decades, and nations and universities around the world have valued and encouraged academics’ transnational experiences greatly. This study explored the influence of different types of international experiences on academics’ research productivity in their domestic environment through the theoretical lens of the construction of negotiated meaning. Interviews showed that long-term international experiences in early career stage affect researchers’ productivity more deeply, substantially, and broadly than do short-term experiences in a later stage. Both types of overseas experiences exert their influence through academics’ negotiations in their research focus, audience, and network. The findings of this study contribute to the knowledge of academic mobility and its effects on academics’ research behaviour. The study’s policy implications extend beyond its empirical context, and inspire all countries who attempt to encourage either its talented diasporas to return or attract top migrant scientists.

Weaving Language and Learning in Negotiating for Meaning

Achieving an understanding of interlocutors in an English classroom is essential in successful communication, learning, and second language acquisition. Through these interactions, interlocutors can negotiate meaning by changing the linguistic form, conversational structure, and message content, or all three. This qualitative content analysis research focuses on the interactions produced between teacher and student or between the students themselves with the use of Michael Long’s Negotiation for Meaning (NfM). The research, conducted in Compostela Valley State College Main Campus, involved five (5) sections of first-year college students enrolled in General Education 2 - Purposive Communication along with their respective instructors. Interactions throughout the class were recorded and then transcribed for further analysis. According to the findings, three (3) signals from NfM are primarily utilized to achieve meaning; comprehension check, clarification request, and confirmation check. These signals functioned in the interaction through eliciting understanding, correcting, probing, recalling, and clarifying. The most used signal was a clarification request, and the most used function of these signals is understanding. The findings suggest that the negotiation in the interaction mostly required previous utterances to be clarified and that the main goal of negotiation is to achieve comprehension of the meaning being negotiated.

Fluency and communication strategy use in group interactions for occupational purposes

Communication strategy use varies with proficiency in the target language and less proficient learners rely on L1 strategies for conversational repair. In an English for Occupational Purposes (EOP) context where the technical register is unfamiliar, little is known on whether communication strategies can enable learners with limited English proficiency to overcome hesitancy in speech. The study examined learners’ use of communication strategies and fluency in group interactions in an EOP context using an integrated problem-solving, interactional and discourse-based framework of communication strategies. A 13-week communication strategy training was conducted focusing on conversational repair strategies (fillers, approximation, code-switching), meaning negotiation strategies (clarification request, comprehension check, confirmation check), response strategies (rephrase, shadowing, reply) and discourse-based strategies (lexical repetition, topic fronting). The results on communication strategy use in three group interaction sessions involving three participants showed that the most frequently used communication strategies were lexical repetition and fillers. The participants’ fluency, as measured in C-units and frequency of fillers, was higher when they interacted on familiar topics. The participants learnt to use discourse-based strategies but not meaning negotiation strategies. The findings suggest that for better negotiation of meaning, the communication strategy training needs to create metacognitive awareness of the interlocutors’ communicative needs.

Crossing and Conversion among North Korean Refugee-Migrants

While pivotal in the lives of North Korean refugee-migrants, the role of religion has been largely neglected in most studies. After being exposed to Protestant missionary networks, either while dwelling in Northeast China or en route to the South, about 80 percent of North Korean refugee-migrants arriving in South Korea affiliate themselves with Protestant churches. This implies that they are exposed to Protestant missionary networks either while dwelling in Northeast China or en route to the South. Some who leave South Korea for other countries or seek asylum in non-Korean societies develop their religiosity in various ways and for various reasons, as part of their aspirations, adjustment to new homes, and search for meaning. The present study aims to address this literature gap. Based on long-term ethnographic research with North Korean refugee-migrants living in South Korea, China, and Europe, the two ethnographic vignettes presented in this article represent those who are in Germany and the United Kingdom by discussing the religious encounters and conversions through which North Korean refugee-migrants make their lives and futures. It draws attention to religion as a lens through which the migrants’ negotiation of meanings, new selves and homelands, and hopes for the future can be better illuminated. The findings of this study suggest that when North Korean Christians experience religious conversion during their perilous journeys, it not only helps them to negotiate a new sense of belonging in their host societies, but it also mobilizes them to contest the existing order of things.

Uso de estrategias comunicativas para la habilidad de escucha y su relación con el nivel de inglés de estudiantes universitarios

Las estrategias comunicativas ayudan a mitigar los problemas de comprensión al momento de aprender un idioma nuevo. En el presente estudio, se propone identificar la frecuencia de las estrategias comunicativas utilizadas por estudiantes universitarios que aprenden inglés para enfrentar las dificultades en la comprensión de mensajes orales, y analizar la relación entre el empleo de estas estrategias y su nivel lingüístico en el idioma. Se realizó un estudio transversal descriptivo, conformado por 542 estudiantes; se empleó el instrumento OCSI (Oral Communication Strategy Inventory), aplicando el cuestionario correspondiente a la habilidad de escucha. Los datos se analizaron mediante estadística descriptiva e inferencial, encontrándose que las estrategias más empleadas corresponden a las de negociación del significado, no-verbales y de orientación hacia las palabras. No se hallaron diferencias entre los niveles A2 (básico) y B1 (intermedio) en cuanto al uso de las estrategias.