Use Of English Language Research Articles

Register as a Language Variation: A Linguistics Study of Advertising, Scientific and Official Writing

This paper considered register as a language variation in English Language. The register of civil service also known as official writing, advertisement and scientific writing are discussed in great details. The study was based on the premise that language is used in different ways to achieve set goals. The achievement of this set goal of a society results to growth and development of that given society. The paper considered language register as an important element of linguistic style used by different writers in different fields to effectively pass their message across to their readers. This paper equally discusses the scientific writing and advertisement register as the different registers used while elaborately paying attention to their differences in diction, sentence variety, clarity and conciseness. The style of writing in the civil service register is seen as being peculiar to the officialese and therefore is restricted to the officialdom. Poetic devices as a linguistic style were also identified as language register of advertisement. A good understanding of the Standard English will enhance a better appropriation of register in different fields of learning. The researcher used a descriptive research approach to collect data. Data collected were interpreted based on the context of the different sentences. The researcher recommends amongst other things that the officialese, scientific and advertisement writers go through proper training and retraining on the use of English language at its standard status.

English language education reform in pre-2020 Olympic Japan: educator perspectives on pedagogical change

Abstract This paper reports on the perspectives of English language teachers and teacher educators on the most recent English language education policy and curriculum reform in Japan, implemented in preparation for hosting the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo. Previous research has comprehensively analysed how language ideologies based on national imaginaries, native-speakerism and deficit views of Japanese teachers’ pedagogy and practice continue to frame debates about English language education in Japan. Through select thematic episodes derived from the interview data with English language practitioners located in Japan, this paper brings into focus the views of English language educators who articulated insightful counter-positions to taken-for-granted understandings of effective English language use and teaching. The authors argue that in order to effect a paradigm shift in global English language education, in Japan and internationally, it is important to incorporate a critical examination of teacher perspectives that challenge and augment prevalent tropes about English language teaching and learning. The paper concludes with implications for addressing the policy-practice and theory-practice divides in English language education. It argues that a continued engagement with educator perspectives is an important space for bringing about a transformation of language ideologies and pedagogical change at the grass-roots level of the English language classroom.

Peer review declaration

All papers published in this volume of IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering have been peer reviewed through processes administered by the Editors. Reviews were conducted by expert referees to the professional and scientific standards expected of a proceedings journal published by IOP Publishing.• Type of peer review: Single-blind • Conference submission management system: ConfTool • Number of submissions received: 72 • Number of submissions sent for review: 71 • Number of submissions accepted: 69• Acceptance Rate (Number of Submissions Accepted / Number of Submissions Received X 100): 96% • Average number of reviews per paper: 2-3 (minimum 2) • Total number of reviewers involved: 71 • Any additional info on review process:Reviewers were asked to consider the following key points in red, related to scientific content, quality and presentation:• General criteria• Comply with the template for an IOP Publishing publication. (please refer to page 2)• Length of the papers to be less or equal to 10 pages.• Written in good style and with appropriate use of English language.• Technical criteria• Scientific merit: notably scientific rigour, accuracy and correctness.• Clarity of expression; communication of ideas; readability and discussion of concepts.• Sufficient discussion of the context of the work, and suitable referencing.• Quality criteria• Originality: is the work relevant and novel?• Motivation: does the problem considered have a sound motivation? All papers should clearly demonstrate the scientific interest of the results.• Repetition: have significant parts of the manuscript already been published? •Length: is the content of the work of sufficient scientific interest to justify its length?• Presentation criteria• Title: is it adequate and appropriate for the content of the article?• : does it contain the essential information of the article? Is it complete? Is it suitable for inclusion by itself in an abstracting service?• Diagrams, figures, tables and captions: Are they essential and clear?• Text and mathematics: are they brief but still clear? If you recommend shortening, please suggest what should be omitted.• Conclusion: does the paper contain a carefully written conclusion, summarizing what has been learned and why it is interesting and useful? A 3rd review was conducted where there was a significant difference between first 2 reviewer scores.• Contact person for queries: Matthew Read (matthew.read.3@city.ac.uk)

Planning, implementing, and evaluating a non-essentialist training programme for study abroad in the Japanese HE context

Short-term study abroad (SA) programmes are often promoted as an effective way of developing English language skills and accessing opportunities for intercultural learning. Whilst pre-departure intercultural training is thought to play an important role in enhancing the potential for meaningful learning, overemphasis on essentialist framings of cultural difference may be counterproductive given the multicultural and multilingual composition of many societies. This paper reports on an action research project triggered by the perceived underdevelopment of SA training and essentialist educational practices observed in a university ELT setting in Japan. The research involved the systematic design, implementation, and evaluation of a non-essentialist SA training e-learning programme informed by research on intercultural awareness, intercultural citizenship, and English as a lingua franca. Findings from a qualitative evaluation of learning on the programme among 22 students revealed some emergent non-essentialist understandings of culture, new awareness of variability in English language use, and a perception that the course was useful for SA training. The paper contributes to understanding of the importance of moving away from essentialist learning in SA training by integrating content which recognises the learning potential of SA experiences in multicultural and multilingual settings.

Translating intercultural experiences into pedagogic insights: shifts in language teachers’ perceptions of English as a language for intercultural communication

These days, many pre-service and in-service language English language teachers now complete at least part of their professional training overseas. There is, thus, an important question concerning the impact of intercultural encounters on teachers’ perspectives towards the English language and the teaching of English. This paper reports on a study of how a small group of in-service teachers interpreted their experiences of intercultural communication in the UK whilst completing an MA TESOL degree, illuminating the nature of teachers’ perceptions of language and culture and how teachers translated insights derived from reflection on experience into pedagogic insights for the teaching of English as a global language. The findings reveal that participants’ views shifted away from highly normative conceptions of English language use as they recognised the variability and fluidity of communication in real-life intercultural encounters. Based on critical moments in their communication experiences, teachers articulate the importance of broadening their own learners’ perspectives on diversity within the English language and helping them develop cognitive and attitudinal tools to interact appropriately with diverse others. The paper contributes to understanding of the facilitative potential of teachers’ reflections on their own experiences of linguistic and cultural diversity in coming to formulate pedagogical ideals and concrete methodological possibilities.

Need Analysis on English Language Use by Hotel Staffs in Bandung

Need analysis is one of the important factors in developing ESP curriculum. There are three aspects in analyzing the target needs: Necessities, Lacks, and Wants. Need analysis in this study was conducted in order to develop ESP syllabus in English for Hotel students. This research aimed to discover the needs of english language skill in the specific field, focused on analyzing the english language needs of hotel staffs in Bandung. As a quantitative study, a questionnaire was addressed to 27 hotel staffs in Bandung to find the difficulties they encounter when using English language and the specific needs to develop their english language skill. The findings of this study showed that speaking is the most important skill that Hotel Staffs need to learn based on the findings of this study. Moreover, the speaking skill for giving information about facilities and services around hotel is highly needed followed by handling complaint.

Language and Sexism: The Use of English Language as Academic Discourse in Balamban, Cebu Primary Education Textbooks

It is important to analyse textbooks in primary education from a gender perspective because textbooks, in addition to family and society, play an important role in the socialization of children. Thus, this study aims to analyse and review gender roles as well as the use of the English language as academic communication in selected primary education textbooks. Furthermore, 5 primary school teachers were also interviewed to know their perceptions of gender roles. Qualitative content analysis and data collection methods were used. The texts and illustrations of the textbooks were content analyses and it was found out that these selected textbooks were male-based in texts, illustrations, and language. The textbooks portray men in active roles mostly in Science related fields while women were depicted in conformity with the expected traditional Filipino culture of women; dependent, take care of the household, and passive. Findings from teacher interviews correspond to the findings from the textbook analysis. It shows that almost all teachers admitted that women/men are not treated equally but at the same time in some instances, they believed that roles or occupations that require physical strength and competence should be male-exclusive. When it comes to women’s roles outside the home, the interviewed male teachers wanted these roles to be in conformity with the traditional Filipino culture where women stay in the house and take care of the babies, and do most of the household works. The interviewed female teachers react in opposition saying that the current Philippine societal set-up no longer requires women to stay at home perform traditional expected roles of women, stating that male teacher’s conclusion as to the roles of women outside the home indicates deeply rooted beliefs perpetuating the unequal treatment of girls and boys in Philippine families, schools, and society. The research comes to a number of conclusions and also recommends more research with a wider scope that includes interviews and analysis from an increased number of teachers, students, textbook reformers, and policymakers to get a wider picture of gender roles.

Fostering Citizenship and English Language Competences in Teenagers Through Task-Based Instruction

This research analyzes how citizenship and communicative competences can be fostered through a task-based approach to language teaching. This paper proposes the design of a unit with social components as the main meaningful task for the teaching of the English language and for fostering citizenship competencies in A2 level learners. An action research method was used; data collection techniques included observations, diaries, interviews, and students’ artifacts. Findings report that tasks might foster English language use if those are designed by taking into account students’ context and interests. Furthermore, real-life tasks derived from contextual features can enhance civic engagement and promote values, which can be signals of citizenship.

Dialogic Teaching as a Way to Promote Students’ English Language Use in EFL classroom

Dialogic Teaching as a Way to Promote Students’ English Language Use in EFL classroom

Self-assessment first or peer-assessment first: effects of video-based formative practice on learners’ English public speaking anxiety and performance

Although formative assessment has been recognized as an effective way for improving learning, scant attention has been paid to the specific design on the sequence of applying formative assessment practice in computer-assisted language learning (CALL). Even less emphasis has been devoted to the cognitive and affective outcomes of different orders of formative assessment strategies on building students’ public speaking competence. This mixed-method research employed multi-source data to explore and explain the effects of two different ways of sequencing video-based formative assessment on English language learners’ public speaking anxiety and their performance. Two intact classes in a 16-week English public speaking course were randomly assigned to two groups, 25 in the self-assessment-initiated (SAI) group and 26 in the peer-assessment-initiated (PAI) group. Following two different sequences of formative practice, both groups were required to complete three formal English public speeches. Both quantitative and qualitative findings indicated that learners in the SAI group showed significantly lower public speaking anxiety than those in the PAI group, whereas learners in the PAI group showed significantly better public speaking performance. Moreover, the findings showed that SAI formative practice helped the learners to pay more attention to their delivery and anxiety levels in public speaking, while PAI formative practice may have led the learners to improve their proper use of English language. This research indicated that the sequence of implementing different modalities of assessment matters. Supported by video technology and CALL tools, different sequences in obtaining varying sources of feedback can affect students’ public speaking anxiety and competence. This study provides refined understandings about the sequences of using video technology in formative practice for alleviating the learners’ public speaking anxiety and improving their performance. The findings suggest that self-assessment should be arranged first for learners with a higher-level of anxiety while peer-assessment should be conducted first for learners with a lower-level of English language proficiency. Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/09588221.2021.1946562 .

Voice Onset Time (VOT) Consonants Realization of Indian-Muslim English Speakers in Malaysia

Voice Onset Time (VOT) is commonly found in most spoken languages. It is a speech feature to indicate differences in voicing and meaning. In particular, the duration of Voice Onset Time values is directly determined by place of articulation, with labial VOT values being shorter than velar and alveolar and, sometimes, alveolar being shorter than velar. In the present study, the researchers examined the VOT values of English speakers in Malaysia, particularly Indian-Muslim English speakers in the northwest region of Malaysia. From the analysis conducted by employing PRAAT software in examining differences in VOT values of voiced and voiceless plosives, the results revealed that there were significant differences in VOT values of bilabial plosives of /p/ and /b/ as well as alveolar plosives of /t/ and /d/ in Indian-Muslim English speakers’ community. However, there is no significant difference in the VOT values of both voiced and voiceless velar plosives of /k/ and /g/, indicating the influence of the speakers’ mother tongue in their English language use. In the case of prominence of aspiration in the present study, the results show that the Indian-Muslim English speakers in Malaysia have high VOT values in voiceless alveolar plosive /t/ (M = 0.0705, SD = 0.0509) and voiced alveolar plosive /d/ (M = 0.015, SD = 0.00). The findings highlight that there are differences in term of VOT values in bilabial plosives and alveolar plosives of English speakers between Indian-Muslim community and Malay community. 
 
 
 
 

Language ideologies and self-Orientalism: representing English in China Daily travelogues

Abstract While there is plenty of scholarship on the spread and study of English in China, scarce attention has been paid to representations of English in tourism discourses about China. This article aims to explore language ideologies undergirding representations of English language use in 253 travelogues from China Daily published since 2000. Findings show that most prominently in China Daily “standard” English was represented as a lingua franca for travel in China, a language of prestige, and a means of Othering. Some places are demarcated from others due to the lack of English-language services. Chinese people’s way of using English was reduced to Chinglish, a pejorative term indicating inappropriate or incorrect usage of English. Chinese use of English was thus ridiculed as an inferior Other. This critical discourse analysis of tourism discourses about China emanating from within the country demonstrates one facet of Orientalism – self-orientalism. CD’s self-orientalist strategies were embedded in oppositional East-West ideologies that set an inferior China against a superior West.

Poetry

These pieces of COVID-19 poetry in their pixelated form follow McLuhan’s playful use and misuse of the phonetic English language. They contribute to media ecology a continued poetic exploration into how our blurry presences in physical and digital spaces engender our landscapes at varying degrees and levels of experience. Through poetic exploration of this envirusment, I invoke the inherently insufficient and terminally playful qualities of language; both enabling and disabling our dualistic experiential accounts of proximity, relations and visceral corporeality in present-COVID. Depending on which dimension readers interpretatively focus on while reading, their own unique personal frame will guide their own unique translation.

The Impact of the English Language used in Social Media on English Language Learners at the Undergraduate Level in Sargodha

Purpose: The study aimed to determine the strengths and weaknesses of the English language used in social media and its impact on English language learners at the undergraduate level in Sargodha. Approach/Methodology/Design: Five private colleges in Sargodha were selected through convenient sampling. A total of 82 learners participated in the study and the individual perception of each learner was recorded using a questionnaire as a data collection tool. Due to the nature of the study tool, descriptive and inferential statistical design was adopted to analyze the collected data using SPSS, version 20.0. The reliability of the questionnaire was substantiated using reliability statistics (Cronbach’s alpha). Findings: The results indicated that social media plays a vital role in advancing the language learnability of English language learners. It proved instrumental in enhancing vocabulary and improving the overall reading, writing, listening and speaking skills of the learners. It was also found that the overwhelming use of shortened forms, slang, and incorrect sentences on social media adversely affects the academic writings of the learners. However, the overall perception of the learners signified that social media positively impacts the learnability of the English language learners. Moreover, though practicing social media is imperative in learning the English language, the use of informal English language may prove a future risk to Standard English. Practical Implication: This research contributes to understanding the role of social media in language learning. The findings of the study present practical implications for teachers as well as learners to direct the teaching/learning process in a better way, adopting appropriate ways of writing English on social media. Originality/value: This study is different from other similar existing studies as it focuses the perception of the learners towards English language learning through social media in the Pakistani context, and empirically examines the impact of the English language used in social media on English language learners at undergraduate Level in Sargodha.

Perspectives of postgraduate professors and students on internationalization and English language use at a university in the south of Brazil

The aim of the present study is to understand how internationalization has been understood, lived, and discursively constructed by postgraduate students and faculty members at a publicly funded university in the south of Brazil. Through data generated using questionnaires and interviews (with 406 and 19 participants, respectively), we observed at this university that there are discrepancies between how student and faculty participation in the process of internationalization is perceived. We also identified inconsistencies in relation to the understandings of the role of foreign languages in this process. The results show that internationalization is conceptualized as the establishment of interpersonal, intercultural, and inter-institutional relationships (as defended by Martinez, 2017). They also point to two specific needs: a) for more student involvement in discussions over the internationalization process of the university; and b) for a plurilingual understanding of the status of English within this process.
 Key words: Internationalization, Higher Education, English language, Brazil, global South
 How to cite this article: de Figueiredo, E.H.D., Jordão, C.M., Antunes, B.P., Emmerich, A. & Cons, T.R. 2021. Perspectives of postgraduate professors and students on internationalization and English language use at a university in the south of Brazil. Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in the South. 5(1): 6-24. DOI: 10.36615/sotls.v5i1.158.
 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Perspectives of postgraduate professors and students on internationalization and English language use at a university in the south of Brazil

The aim of the present study is to understand how internationalization has been understood, lived, and discursively constructed by postgraduate students and faculty members at a publicly funded university in the south of Brazil. Through data generated using questionnaires and interviews (with 406 and 19 participants, respectively), we observed at this university that there are discrepancies between how student and faculty participation in the process of internationalization is perceived. We also identified inconsistencies in relation to the understandings of the role of foreign languages in this process. The results show that internationalization is conceptualized as the establishment of interpersonal, intercultural, and inter-institutional relationships (as defended by Martinez, 2017). They also point to two specific needs: a) for more student involvement in discussions over the internationalization process of the university; and b) for a plurilingual understanding of the status of English within this process.

Failures of Gricean reasoning and the role of stereotypes in the production of gender marking in French

We partly replicate von der Malsburg et al. (2020)’s recent experiments investigating the relationship between speaker expectations, gender stereotypes and language use in English on a grammatical gender language: French. The results of our experiment show how the linguistic particularities of the English and French gender marking systems interact with speaker expectations and stereotypes to create different patterns of gender marking production. They also raise a puzzle for current theoretical and computational frameworks that formalize Gricean pragmatics, particularly those in which informativity (Gricean Quantity) is assumed to play a driving role in linguisticproduction.

Young English learners’ attitudes towards China English: unpacking their identity construction with implications for secondary level language education in China

ABSTRACT With the expanding use of English around the world, it is important to understand various stakeholders’ attitudes towards it from a Global Englishes (GE) perspective. The GE perspective has challenged native speakerism and recognized the multilingual nature of the English language. In particular, a GE perspective leads to the sustainable development of a language from both sociolinguistic and ecolinguistic perspectives. Echoing the diversity and complexity of the English language use and teaching, this paper investigates senior high school students’ attitudes towards the local variety of English in China, and unpacks their negotiation and construction of identity through their English-language learning journey. Through a series of interviews, this study found that the students still perceive English as a school subject, and see themselves as perennial learners of English. As the GE perspective was not widely recognized, and that students have not developed their awareness of the global use of English, several implications of teaching English from the GE paradigm, from curriculum design and teaching materials, are provided to increase the awareness of the global use of English. This paper also highlights the importance of viewing the development of English from an ecolinguistic perspective for the sustainable development of the language.

Innovation indicators based on firm websites—Which website characteristics predict firm-level innovation activity?

Web-based innovation indicators may provide new insights into firm-level innovation activities. However, little is known yet about the accuracy and relevance of web-based information for measuring innovation. In this study, we use data on 4,487 firms from the Mannheim Innovation Panel (MIP) 2019, the German contribution to the European Community Innovation Survey (CIS), to analyze which website characteristics perform as predictors of innovation activity at the firm level. Website characteristics are measured by several data mining methods and are used as features in different Random Forest classification models that are compared against each other. Our results show that the most relevant website characteristics are textual content, the use of English language, the number of subpages and the amount of characters on a website. In our main analysis, models using all website characteristics jointly yield AUC values of up to 0.75 and increase accuracy scores by up to 18 percentage points compared to a baseline prediction based on the sample mean. Moreover, predictions with website characteristics significantly differ from baseline predictions according to a McNemar test. Results also indicate a better performance for the prediction of product innovators and firms with innovation expenditures than for the prediction of process innovators.

Ideologi Bahasa dan Diskursus Identitas dalam Permainan Roleplay Bilingual di Twitter

The emergence of new interaction spaces on the internet opened up to the creation of computer-mediated discourse which includes language use in various forms of conversation. This paper describes how discourse developed in role-playing game community on Twitter as a discourse community. Generally, there were three different roleplaying groups based on the use of language: Indonesian, English, and bilingual roleplaying group. This paper focuses on the use of English and Indonesian language among bilingual roleplayers. This language practice was based on language ideologies regarding a dichotomy of ‘in-context’ and ‘out-of-context’ in role-playing game. The use of English was commonly associated with ‘in-context’ situation in which players were entirely immersed into their character. On the contrary, the use of Indonesian language represented ‘out-of-context’ condition in which players detach themselves from their character to express some aspects of their self in real life. However, these opposing poles seemed to merge in the identity construction of bilingual roleplayers as reflected on the ‘decent roleplayer’ discourse. Thus, this paper also explores the relationship between language practice and identity through the way bilingual roleplayers position themselves in interactions. Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE