Unplanned Language Research Articles

(In)visibilization of English learners in Minnesota’s state-approved alternative programs

ABSTRACT Speakers of languages other than English are positioned as problems within education systems and ‘low’ academic English proficiency is viewed as something to be fixed. Alternative education programs are typically viewed as punitive, substandard, exclusionary academic settings. Therefore, speakers of languages other than English (ELs) enrolled in alternative education programs face what we refer to as hybrid imagery challenges. This paper examines enrollment of ELs in Minnesota’s State Approved Alternative Programs (SAAPs), highlighting the hybrid imagery challenges in language policy and planning (LPP). We juxtapose principal (building administrator) beliefs about low EL enrollment with state-level enrollment reports, to reveal the impacts of unplanned language planning at the state-level and theorize how various actors enact agency in ways that (in)visibilize ELs enrolled in Minnesota’s SAAPs. We identify the monoglossic language ideological stance that pervades a state committed to improving the educational conditions for ELs. We call for immediate action in three areas: (1) research that examines why ELs are disproportionately enrolled in alternative education programs; (2) education policies that assume a heteroglossic stance, viewing language development as lifelong; and (3) approaches that disrupt linguistically inequitable school practices every day, especially those that one has contributed to themselves.

The Translation of Al-Haramain (the Two Holy Mosques) Fridays’ Sermons Is Unplanned Language Planning (Management)

This research has studied the project of translating Al -Haramain Al Shareefain (the Two Holy Mosques) Fridays’ sermons (Jomaa Khutbahs) from Arabic into English from language planning perspectives with its relation to translation, which has been launched by the General Presidency of the Two Holy Mosques and Al- Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud Islamic University represented by the College of Languages and Translation in May 2013. This study has investigated these sermons from the language planning perspectives with its relation to translation. It has identified that the translation of Fridays’ sermons has resulted in an unplanned (indeliberate) language planning process by reviving the archaic and obsolete Arabic words. Translating Fridays’ sermons has led to reusing and disseminating these obsolete words that have not been used for along time.

English

The present scholar’s experiments in the class room related to the media using the print media while teaching English at the undergraduate level and the students’ enthusiastic response has been the source of inspiration for the present paper. Here is an effort to concretize unplanned language teaching experiment into a well planned, syllabus-oriented and academically productive package. Key words: English Language Teaching, media, undergraduate and students.

The Expansion of the English Language Across Turkey: Threat or Opportunity

The purpose of this paper is to discuss and report on the spread of the English language across Turkey, and how people from different camps in the country show reactions to its current place. In this sense, with an eye to projecting how a welcoming atmosphere has chronologically occurred in Turkey for English to gain importance as an inescapable phenomenon, brief information on the country profile is given to the reader before the main discussion. To achieve the purpose of the paper, the discussions within the main body of the paper are grounded on the conceptual framework of language spread and its two sub-divisions: planned and unplanned language spread. The current place of English in Turkey is described based on four main domains and their sub-domains. These domains include the presence of English in scientific research and communication, in the workplace, in cultural products and the media and finally in education. For each specific domain, a small amount of space is allowed to cite people’s reactions to the omnipresence of English, including both their concerns and positive remarks regarding the issue. The paper concludes that the spread of English in Turkey creates dilemmas among people and for the state, and no easy solution is seen in the immediate future in regard to the expansion of English.

Effects of an input–output mapping practice task on EFL learners' acquisition of two grammatical structures

Abstract One of the key goals in SLA research is investigating methods of instruction to bring about the acquisition of targeted structures in unplanned language use. This has led researchers to investigate the relative effectiveness of different approaches such as consciousness-raising (C-R), production practice, and recasts. However, a critical review of the research of these approaches has shown that many of these studies have not investigated the impact of instruction on unplanned language use. Neither have they investigated how a series of language activities involving tasks would impact unplanned language use. To address this gap, the present study examined the effects of an input–output mapping practice task on EFL learners' acquisition of two target structures, the 3rd person singular “s” morpheme and do/auxiliary wh-questions, on unplanned language use among 34 English learners of Asian backgrounds. The input–output mapping practice task comprised a series of language activities involving C-R, production practice, and recasts to facilitate the acquisition of the target structures. The results indicate that the input–output mapping practice task had a significant and lasting impact on the acquisition of the two structures. The meaning-focused activities and exposure with the control group had a significant and lasting impact only on the acquisition of the target structure, do/auxiliary wh-questions. These findings are discussed with reference to the recent literature in instructed SLA. Recommendations for further research are also made.

English in Turkey

Abstract: This paper offers a sociolinguistic account of the functional range and status of English in Turkey by discussing its role in national education policies as a reflection of governmental acquisition planning, by looking at societal attitudes towards the presence of English in Turkish life, and by examining borrowings from English by the Turkish mass media as examples of unplanned language spread. The paper examines in detail the role of English in different levels of national education, including its role in Turkish academia, as an indication of the status of English in the country. It then discusses societal and individual attitudes towards English and its role in the workplace. Finally, the use of borrowings from English by Turkish mass media is discussed with examples. The paper discusses how English has become yet another divide between the wealthier, educated urban populations and those belonging to other socioeconomic and geographic groups.

English Language Teaching in Brunei Darussalam: Continuity and Change

In this paper, the authors trace the development of education and the issue of language in education in Brunei Darussalam from 1906 to the present. They look at some of the planned and unplanned language programmes and initiatives, and discuss the problems encountered in implementing some of these initiatives.

Code-Switching in the Primary Classroom: One Response to the Planned and the Unplanned Language Environment in Brunei

This study looks at the phenomenon of code-switching in the primary school in Brunei Darussalam. Instruction in the first three years of the primary school is in Bahasa Melayu. From Primary 4 onwards English takes over as the language medium for a number of the content subjects. Using data from a small number of classrooms at the Primary 4 and 5 levels, the paper looks at how the teacher incorporates elements of both Bahasa Melayu and Brunei Malay into content lessons. In providing the background to this study, some emphasis is given to the sociolinguistic situation in Brunei and, in particular, the important role played by Brunei Malay, the de facto national dialect, in the community. Code-switching in the classroom is seen within the wider framework of the norms of language use in the community, and the considerable linguistic pressures on students and teachers alike in the transition from Bahasa Melayu to English at Primary 4 level.

Code-Switching in the Primary Classroom: One Response to the Planned and the Unplanned Language Environment in Brunei A Response

This study looks at the phenomenon of code-switching in the primary school in Brunei Darussalam. Instruction in the first three years of the primary school is in Bahasa Melayu. From Primary 4 onwards English takes over as the language medium for a number of the content subjects. Using data from a small number of classrooms at the Primary 4 and 5 levels, the paper looks at how the teacher incorporates elements of both Bahasa Melayu and Brunei Malay into content lessons. In providing the background to this study, some emphasis is given to the sociolinguistic situation in Brunei and, in particular, the important role played by Brunei Malay, the de facto national dialect, in the community. Code-switching in the classroom is seen within the wider framework of the norms of language use in the community, and the considerable linguistic pressures on students and teachers alike in the transition from Bahasa Melayu to English at Primary 4 level.